Not About Angels
by prettystories
Summary: Anna's about to graduate from University and return back to Volterra to start eternity with Caius. But then everything turns out differently. An old friend steps into her life and Anna has to learn that people change and things end and life doesn't stop for anybody. Sequel to 'Of Monsters an Men'. Rated M to be safe. Caius/OC Read & Review
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **The Last Day**

Anna left the lecture hall along with dozens of other students, happily chattering with a few of her friends.

"Finally!" Emily shouted. "I seriously thought this last lecture would never end. Now we're free." Emily was a small girl with fair hair and the bluest eyes anyone could ever imagine. She only reached to Anna's shoulder but her talkativeness made up her lack of height. She normally talked a blue streak. The only occasion Anna had seen her quiet was during lectures.

"You know, technically we're only free for another 10 days before our exams take place," Katherine chipped in. At first sight Kat looked very Irish, with her freckles and her fiery red hair. But in fact she was French. She came from Brittany and lived near the sea. Anna could totally imagine her standing on a storm-lashed cliff, her hair fluttering in the wind like a wild fire.

From the outside Kat looked like the cool girl next door and most of the time she was. But beneath the surface slumbered a total smart-arse that only waited to break free. She meant no harm of course, she just couldn't help it. Sticking around her Anna and her friends had gotten used to it.

"Kat, you're totally killing my vibe here." Emily complained and Kristina laughed.

Kris was from France too but different than Katherine, Kristina lived in Paris in a very posh part of the city, which one could easily make out by her wardrobe. Kristina always looked fly. Even after just getting out of bed with her bronde hair tousled and circles around the eyes she looked stunning. Anna had to know it since she shared a flat with Kris.  
She was a little luxury girl. Always dressed slightly elegant, wearing high heels most of the time. But Kristina was at no meaning arrogant. In fact she was the coolest and sweetest girl Anna had ever met since Cara. She was no replacement of course but a close second and the girls got along very well.

"We're free girls!" Emily stated as they left the faculty. She danced in front of the others, turned around and spread her arms. "Free to do whatever we want..."

"...After the exams," Katherine added. Emily made a face at her.

"Well, in this case 'whatever I want' will be locking myself up in my bedroom burring myself beneath books and my notes." Kristina pursed her lips.

Emily looked crestfallen. "You guys are no fun. Tonight's the big party at the beach. Please tell me you're going there! It'll be mega! Drinks and marshmallows and dancing at the beach, please tell me you'll come too!"

"Soz Em. I'm gonna do the same as Kris and study until my brain hurts." Kat said apologetic.

Emily turned to Anna with pleading eyes. "Annie," she whined.  
"I'm sorry Em, but I can't. I..."  
Kristina cut her off grinning like a Cheshire cat "She's going to visit her boyfriend. Her really _hot_ boyfriend."  
Anna nodded.

"Oi! Okay, you're off the hook," Emily said graciously. "And you two," she looked at the two French girls "You're _so_ gonna regret that you're not coming. Because I'm gonna have tons of fun tonight."

Anna and Kristina walked down the street towards their flat, their arms linked. "Are you excited?" Kris asked.  
"To say that'd be the understatement of the century! I can't wait to set a foot on that plane! It's been so long since I saw him." Anna smiled from ear to ear.

"How long has it been? 5 months?"

"6 months. Why does one term have to take so long?"

Kristina smiled knowingly at her. "In that case, could you leave me some of your notes for studying? Because I highly doubt that you'll have a lot of time to do so."

Anna shoved her playfully. "Hey! I'm very disciplined."

" _Oh chérie,_ from what I've seen of your boyfriend you can be as disciplined as you want. You won't stand a chance."

"Did you just try to demoralise me?"

"Never," Kris laughed "But seriously, don't you worry about him cheating on you while you are thousands of miles away?"

"Honestly? I think he's more worried about me cheating on him. Not that there'd be an apparent reason for this."

"Well, to be fair a lot of boys tried to hit on you in the last months."

"Yeah, pity for them. I'm off the market." Anna pointed at the heart-shaped locket around her neck. Caius had given it to her the day she had left for university. The heart was golden and about the size of her thumbnail. On the back was an inscription saying: _Into Eternity  
"You are the only one holding my heart, my love," _he had said _"I give it to you in the hope you will keep it safe. Until the end of time."_

"Oh no, not him again!", Kristina groaned, dragging Anna back to reality. Anna followed Kristina's gaze and saw Jacob Black leaning against a lamppost outside their flat. Next to him stood Alice Cullen.

"That's the fifth time this month. What's this guys problem?"

Jacob had showed up very frequently in the past 6 months to 'talk' to Anna about her mate. Most of the time they ended up hissing at each other not daring to yell because they were in public. Except for that one time Anna had visited Alice and Bella at the Cullens house. Jacob had been there too and somehow he had gotten wind of the fact that Anna and Caius relationship included sleeping with each other. They had an awful fight about it until Emmet had stepped in and thrown Jacob out of the house based on the fact that _"The girl has saved your fury arse last winter so leave her the hell alone."_ Anna had loved Emmet for that but it hadn't put an end to Jacobs visits.  
The two of them had never gotten along very well in the first place. She had thought him a massive pain in the arse for trying to make Bella fall for him in the time Edward had been gone.

She'd told him he should give her time. That it wasn't as easy to get over him as he thought it was but he hadn't cared about it very much and had tried to rush Bella into a new relationship anyway.

Things had gotten worse ever since the confrontation with the Volturi last winter when he had found out that Anna's mate was the most cruel vampire in the world. The part about him knowing of Caius' reputation was to ascribe to Alice, who had been quite talkative about what had happened in Volterra and what she had seen in her visions.  
Everything she had told Jacob was true though but Anna didn't care much about that. It was none of his business. End of the story.

Anna sighed. "He just wants to talk. Why don't you go inside. I'll be there in a sec."

"Alright." Kris sighed and walked past them, greeting Alice politely and glaring at Jacob.

Anna waited until Kristina was gone then she turned to Jacob. "All right. What's the meaning of this? If you're here to tell me I should break up with Caius again you might as well leave again Jacob."

"You can't be serious Anna. This guy is a sadist. Has Alice here told you half the things she's told me?"

"Yes she has. And he has too and it doesn't change anything! I love him. And nothing you say will change that."

"He kills people for fun. How can you love such a monster Anna?"  
Alice gasped in shock upon that.

Annas eyes turned to slits and she brought herself very close to Jacob. "Don't you dare to ever call him a monster again. Do you hear me Jacob Black? Never again. Or I swear to God you'll regret it." she hissed at him.

Jacob started to tremble and he clenched his fists to keep it under control. Hastily Alice pushed between them. "Okay you two, that's enough. Anna, take a step back. Jacob, Anna can have a relationship with whoever she wants. She's a grown woman. So stop to interfere."

Anna still glared at Jacob but she took a step back as Alice had said. "What are you doing here anyway Alice? Normally he doesn't need support."

"I wanted to say good-bye before you leave," Alice smiled at her angelically, "He can't wait to see you."

Anna beamed at her and took her into an embrace. "That's good to know. I can't wait either! I miss him so much!" She released the pixie.

"Okay, so you better hurry up now because Jane will call you in about 5 minutes and you still have to finish packing and drive to the airport. You don't want to miss your flight, do you?"  
The girl smiled whimsically at Alice.

"You're making a mistake Anna." Jacob growled as she pushed past him.

"Mind you own business Black."

Of course Jane called exactly 5 minutes after Anna's encounter with Alice and Jacob. _"Dead on time."_ Anna thought before she picked up."Hey little J, how are you?"

"I am fine and why are you calling me 'little J'?"

"I guess I've watched too much 'Gossip Girl'. What's up?"

"What's 'Gossip Girl'?"

"It's a TV-show. And little J is Jenny and she's young and somehow cool although she can be a real bitch sometimes and... you know what? Never mind. What's up?"

"Oh not much actually. Master Caius is really looking forward to see you again. And honestly all of us are looking forward for him to see you again. He... misses you very much. Which affects his temper. And his moods."

"Oh c'mon, you're exaggerating. It's not like I've changed him that much. The day before I left I heard him yelling at Santiago for God-knows-what reason. That's just him."

"You have no idea. He is almost always on an edge. But it is not only because you are on the other side of the world. We have a new member in the guard, Rosemarie, and she... well... how should I put this delicately? She constantly tries to hit on him."

"What?!" Anna shrieked causing Kristina to stick her head out of her bedroom with an alarmed look on her face. She waved her hand at her friend, signalising that everything was fine.

"Not that he would succumb her charms of course," Jane said hastily "But she annoys him to no end and Aro forbade him to rip her head off because of her gift. She is an excellent tracker, you must know. Much like Demitri. I thought you should know about that before you come back."

"Yeah, thank you. Erm... Jane? Is she... is she pretty?" She suddenly felt a bit insecure.

"Don't worry Anna. He didn't dignify her with a second look when she arrived and this means a lot. Almost all male members of the coven were literally drooling when Aro introduced her."

Anna smiled happily. She should have known that she could trust Caius. "Hey, do you think I could talk to him before I leave?"

Jane took a sharp breath and Anna heard a dull noise in the background. "I don't think so. There is a trial going on right now."

"Yeah, I can hear that," Anna laughed "Okay, listen I've got to go now. Could you tell him something from me?"

"Of course. Whatever you want."

"Tell him I miss him. And that I love him and that I'm underway."

"I will do so Anna. And he loves you too. He keeps looking at this picture of you whenever he thinks himself alone. You know, the one you gave him before you left? I believe it is always in his pocket."

Hearing that Anna smiled affectionately. And in this very moment she missed Caius more than ever before.  
 _"Only a few hours,"_ she thought.

 **So this was the first chapter of Not About Angels.  
I'm trying to write in a more elaborate way, explaining the surroundings or the character of a person more precise.  
You might have noticed that the title is once again the title of a song (Not About Angels by Birdy). I got a bit inspired by it and I thought it would fit the storyline.  
Read & Review.**

 **Love XX**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Reunion**

The doors of the elevator opened far too slowly for Anna's taste. The girl felt like being on pins and needles. Her flight had been delayed and she had spent hours and hours waiting at the airport in Chicago. And as always when one couldn't wait to get somewhere the time had seemed to pass particularly slow.

While waiting she had tried to call Caius again but she couldn't have gotten a proper connection which had had annoyed her even more.

But now she had arrived at Volterra at last. And finally, _finally,_ the doors of the silver elevator that had brought her down to the underground castle were open.  
She had barely set a foot out of the elevator as someone pulled her in a bone crashing hug.

"Well, it is about time Anna!" Felix announced in his deep voice.

"Wooh! Felix. Air. I need air!"  
Felix released her and Anna managed to take a deep breath before Demitri hugged her just as fiercely.  
"Dem! Same for you!"  
The tracker laughed and let go of her.

"I missed you too guys." she smiled at them and started to walk towards the throne room.

"Yeah right," Felix chuckled walking next to her "That is why you just can't wait to get to the throne room. What if I told you that he is not there."

"He isn't?" Anna stopped dead in her tracks.

"Of course he is there. Stop being so mean to her Felix. They haven't seen each other in months." Demitri chipped in. "Come on Anna, this way."

Demitri walked in front of them until they reached the huge oaken doors of the throne room. Butterflies started to dance in Anna's stomach and she went all tingly.  
The two guards opened the doors for her and positioned themselves on either side of the entrance.

For once Anna didn't mind them making such a scene of her entrance. She was just too excited or what would happen next.

She entered the room. The wooden thrones on the dais were empty. But at the right side of the room someone had placed a large wooden table with big books, pells and candleholder with burning candles on it. Wax had dropped down the candles and had formed a little puddle at the foot of the holder.

And there he was. He had turned his back to her and was reading in one of the large books. Upon hearing the doors open he closed the book with a loud 'thud' and turned around.

He looked like Anna remembered him. His snowy hair falling to his chin. High cheekbones and the ruby red eyes with a look of pure delight as he looked at her. The eyes she had imagined every night before falling asleep for the last 6 months.

She beamed at him and almost run over to him. He smiled widely at her and opened his arms. Anna jumped up at him wrapping her legs and her arms around his torso.  
The next thing she knew, they were kissing.

His cold yet soft lips moved swiftly against hers and he pulled her petite body as close to him as possible. For a moment the whole world seemed to stop leaving just the two of them.  
He tasted exactly like she had remembered him to; Summer rain, bittersweet venom and her very own definition of sunshine. Oh how she had craved this taste.  
Her tongue flickered over his lower lip and opened his mouth granting her access.

Someone, probably Aro, cleared his throat reminding them that they weren't as alone as they thought themselves. They broke apart and Anna realised that Marcus, Aro and at least half of the guard were starring at them whereon she blushed furiously. She loosened her grip around Caius and put her feet back on the stone floor. Caius chuckled lowly into her hear and kissed her burning cheek while his arm sneaked around her waist. "You have no idea how I have longed for this." he whispered so that only she could hear him.

"Anna we are so happy to have you with us again after all this time." Aro smiled his slightly creepy smile and clapped his hands cheerily. He hadn't changed a bit. But then again he had probably been like this for the last 3000 years so why should he change within 6 months.

She looked around the room seeing all the familiar faces. They all seemed happy to see her again. Even Marcus mouth had quirked into a small smile.  
But not all of the guards were smiling. Close to the main door, standing next to Demitri, was a tall woman. Her blond curls cascaded over her shoulders and her red eyes were like fire as she glared at Anna. _"So this must be Rosemarie."_ she thought. _"Darn! She is not just pretty. She's drop-dead gorgeous!"_

Caius noticed Rosemarie's glare. A growl formed in his chest and his grip around Anna's waist tightened. She rested her head against his shoulder.  
"It feels good to be here again, Aro. Is this... are you still working on that trial case from yesterday?" Anna gestured towards the books on the table.

"I am afraid so, my dear." Aro said apologetically.

"But I am sure we can put this on hold for a little while to give the two of you some time alone. Am I not right, Aro?" Marcus interjected. "After all, you will be leaving again very soon to take your exams, aren't you?"

Anna's head and a majority of her upper half laid crosswise over Caius bare chest. Her face was almost hidden beneath her thick brown hair and she was sleeping soundly.

Caius stroke some of her hair back to get a better look at her face, being careful not to wake her up. She was so beautiful, so smart and utterly good. In times like this he wondered how he deserved to be loved by a woman like her. After all the terrible things he had done, after all the people he had killed without a second thought he had been sure that the gods would punish him one day. But instead he had found someone he could love and who loved him back despite who he was. Someone who saw past his mask of hatred and silenced the monster within him. He smiled lovingly at her sleeping figure. _"I have been blessed with an angel,"_ he thought as his lips brushed over her hair. Words would never be able to describe how much he loved her and he wasn't the kind of man to put his feelings into words. But she knew he did. When she looked at him he felt like she saw deep into his soul seeing all the feelings and emotions he kept for her. He didn't need to speak it out loud for her - although he did sometimes - she just knew. And for that he loved her even more.

The sun peeked through the windows of their chambers dipping them into golden light.  
His fingers drew intertwined patterns onto the soft skin of her bare back. Anna groaned but her lips formed a smile.

"That tickles," she complained her voice still heavy with sleep.

"I wish you a good morning too, my love. I trust you slept well?" Caius grinned at her as she opened her eyes.

"As if you had to ask." she snickered. Still grinning he flipped her over and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

Anna's fingers danced down his spine to his lower back and started to draw lazy circles there. He groaned into the kiss before he released her, leaning his forehead against hers. "I have missed you so much, il mio angelo."

"I've missed you too, Caius," she said while caressing his face. "And yes, I have slept very well. By the way, I liked that thing you did with your tongue."

"Is that so?" he smirked and kissed her again. His hands roamed her body as his lips travelled over her cheek to her ear, kissing this spot behind her ear which always made her gasp. "I wager you liked this too, my darling."

Before she could say anything to that someone knocked at the door of their bedroom causing Caius to growl in frustration.  
"Master Caius, Master Aro asked me to remind you that he would like to talk to Miss Anna when she wakes up."

"I will keep it in mind," Caius snarled "Now leave."

Anna took advantage of his moment of abstraction to flip him around positioning herself on top of him kissing his throat and raking her fingers through his hair. He moaned huskily causing her to shiver. "You are going to be my death one day."

She giggled against his skin. "As if you hadn't known that since the day you've met me. So, what does Aro want to talk to me about?" She rolled off him drawing the blanket up to cover her upper body.

Caius leaned over her. "He said he wanted to discuss your position."

"He wants to talk about my exams?"

"I actually meant your position within the coven."

Anna's brows met. "What the devil are you talking about?" She seemed genuinely clueless.

In all the time since they had met she apparently had never thought about the power she would hold by being the woman at his side. She didn't love his title or his influence like Athenodora had. _"Oh, my wonderful girl."_ he thought affectionately.

"Have you forgotten that I am a Volturi king?" he asked stroking her cheek.

"It might has slipped my mind," she admitted sheepishly.

"Well, then allow me to refresh your memory. Aro wants to talk to you about your future position as queen of the vampire world."

"I beg your pardon?" Anna said incredulous "Queen? Have you looked at me? I'm not exactly queen-stuff."

"To be honest, I think you are very well 'queen-stuff' - as you put it. But it is primarily to assure your position within the coven and for official events."

"Uuuhg...official events? Can't I just be queen without this sort of things? Like just between you and me?"

A small growl rumbled in his chest. "I won't let anyone call my mate a mistress."

Anna cringed inwardly at the word 'mistress'. He had a point. "All right. I guess I could get to terms with being called queen. But no coronation ceremony or anything like this!" she added.

"It's a bargain. I will talk my brother out of it."

"Thank you," she kissed his lips lightly "Okay, I guess I should get up and talk to Aro now. And then I really need to study for my exams."

She attempted to get out of bed as Caius moved behind her wrapping an arm around her waist, trailing kisses over her shoulder and up her neck. "Is there anything I could say or do to bring you round?" he purred.

Anna leaned into the touch of his cold lips. But as he was about to melt her body against his she remembered what Kristina had said the other day about her not being able to study when she visited Caius. She braced herself. "Absolutely nothing," she announced turning around to kiss his red lips once more before she got out of his embrace to go to the bathroom to shower.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Studying and other thins that suck**

"...and therefore it must be article... article...," Anna was browsing through her copy of the civil code. Her brain felt like it was about to explode. She had locked herself up in Caius private library and studied all day. Right after her chat with Aro that is.

Said conversation had gone pretty smoothly. First Aro had announced that she would become officially queen after she graduated and returned to Volterra. Then he had started to rattle off a list of her future duties as a member of the royal coven but Anna had tuned out halfway through the numeration. Partly because she was afraid of forgetting her precious knowledge of the human law - which she would be tested about in a few days - and partly because most of the things Aro listed sounded plain dull.

Anna had been sitting in the chair in front of Aro's desk, had feigned attentiveness and had tried to nod at the right places. After Aro had finished with the list he started to talk about her coronation ceremony with the enthusiasm of a doctor telling his patient that they had finally found a donor kidney.

After a few sentences of describing how many people would attend the ceremony and what Anna would have to say during the event someone had knocked at the door of Aro's study and Caius had entered. "May I have a word about the coronation with you Aro?"

Anna had inwardly sighed with relief and jumped to her feet. "Are we done here, Aro?"

"Umm... I think so," he had stuttered. It was the first time she had ever saw him stunned.

"Okay, because I really need to study. I'll be in your library, all right dear?" She had stolen a kiss from Caius lips and practically fled from the room.

Groaning with frustration she rested her head on top of her book. "If I ever again have the glorious idea to study law, someone slap me please."

"I would gladly help you out on this, little girl." a sickly sweet voice sounded in front of her. Her head shot up again. In front of the table she was sitting on stood the tall women with the blond locks from the throne room.

Rosemarie.

 _"Oh holy mother of god, Now, of all times!"_ Anna thought exasperated.

"What are you doing here, human?" she hissed lowly.

"Errm... I could ask you the same."

"I have permission to be here."

"I highly doubt that," Anna snorted "This is Caius private library and no one except himself and his mate are allowed to be in here. And I happen to be his mate. Now if you excuse me, I need to study."

Rosemarie snarled at her. "How dare you to say his name in such a disrespectful manner, mortal? Caius is _mine_!"

Anna sighed. _"Why do I always get the mad ones?"_ She looked up at the blonde. "Really? Because when I checked this morning he certainly wasn't yours," she sneered at her competitor.

The blonde huffed. "I let him have some fun with his little human pet for now but as soon as he gets tired of you he will fall into my waiting arms. Because, honestly, which man could resist this," she motioned to her curvy body "Especially compared to..." her gaze flickered over Anna's slim body and came to a short rest upon her close-to-non-existing chest before looking back at her face, smiling smugly.

That did it. "Listen up, Blondie, and listen good because I'm not gonna say it twice," she got up "Yes I'm a bit skinny, so what? I have found someone who loves me the way I am and this happens to be Caius. And from what I've heard he didn't so much as glance at you ever since you two have met. Surely not something you are used to. Quite a shitty feeling, isn't it?"

Anger flickered over the blond one's face and Anna knew she had hit a spot. She continued "So, I have exams coming up in a few days which is why I really need to study now. And I don't have time for some mad girls sick fantasies about my mate. So would you please bugger off now?"

In the sheer blink of a second Rosemarie flung herself at her with a feral growl. They fell backwards over her the chair Anna had been sitting on. Her head hit the hard floor and Rosemarie pressed her knees to Anna's upper body holding her flat to the ground her teeth only inches from Anna's throat. "Caius is mine!" she growled. "The only thing keeping him from me is you! But I will deal with this little problem now."

Anna tried to shove the vampire woman off her but she didn't move an inch. She was like a rock sitting on top of her giving her a hard time to breathe. The blonde cackled. "How cute. Any last words, little girl?"

"Yeah, get off me, you bitch." Anna struggled even more.

Suddenly the weight was lifted from her. A ferocious growl sounded through the room.  
"How dare you to threaten her?! You naive girl, she's my mate! Aro might be intrigued by your gift and forbade me to kill you but if you ever get close to Anna again I swear I will tear you limb from limb without batting an eye! And now get out of here!" Caius threw her towards the door of the library.

"But... but Caius, dear..." Rosemarie stammered.

"I said, get out!" he roared and she scrambled to her feet and fled from the room an expression of utter fear on her face.

Caius helped Anna to her feet and felt for the back of her head. "Are you all right, love? Did she hurt you?"

Anna shook her head. "No, not too badly."

"What did she say?"

"Some crap about you being in love with her. I'm sorry, I should've been more careful."

"There is no need for you to be sorry. You are my mate and everyone in the castle knows what will happen if they try to hurt you. Her included." A growl rumbled deep within his chest. "I will make her regret the day she was born," he murmured as he felt the swelling at the back of her head.

She gave him a small smile and changed the subject too soothe him. "Did you talk Aro out of the ceremony?"

"Unfortunately no. Not yet. Marcus is currently trying convince him that an event like this is not necessary."

"Oh dear lord, please let him succeed," Anna groaned and leaned her head against Caius' shoulder. "The last thing I want to do is making a fool out of myself in front of the entire vampire world."

"I don't think you would make a fool out of yourself. In fact I think you would look rather ravishing in a ball gown."

Anna eyed him suspiciously.

"But I will keep on convincing Aro of the opposite," he added hastily, making her laugh.

"I've just witnessed you nearly tearing off Rosemarie's head and now you're acting like you're scared of me."

"You are my mate. Don't tell me you don't know how much power you hold over me." in his voice sounded a hint of surprise.

"I've never looked at it that way. But it's sure good to know. Thanks for pointing it out. And now," she took a step back and put the chair she and Rosemarie had knocked over back on its feet "I'm afraid you have to leave."

"You are throwing me out?"

"Sort of."

"But this is my library." he said astonished.

"In which I need to study for my exams. Besides what was that about the power and all that stuff?" she ushered him towards the door.

"Pointing this out to you might have been a mistake," he mumbled fretful.

She kissed his lips. "Two weeks, darling, and then I'm all yours."

He leaned in. "Hmmm... this sound wonderful." His lips brushed over her cheek. "Just think of all the things we will do. All the pleasures..." he whispered seductively into her ear. She got goose bumps.

"Darn it Caius! I'm gonna fail my exams because of you." She shoved him playfully and he grinned annoyingly sexy.

"Get out already," she laughed and pushed the still grinning Caius out of the door.

 **Hi everyone  
Thanks so much for favouriting / following this story and for the lovely comments.  
This chapter is kind of a fill-in. That's why it's rather short.  
I'm sorry for updating so slowly. I'm not posting as often as I want but I've started working again this week so the next chapters might gonna take a while. But I hope I'll finish the next one until the weekend.  
Thanks for sticking around with me.  
Read & Review  
Love XX**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Graduation**

"In two hours we will hold our diploma in our hands!" Emily announced happily. The four girls were standing in front of the auditorium on the campus where graduation ceremony would take place. All of them were wearing a dress and over it their black robe. Their feet, all of them perfectly pedicured for the big day, were all put into high heels. Kristina had disclosed that if there would ever be such thing as a perfect occasion to wear heels it would be the day of graduation and therefore she had forced the girls to wear them.

Anna had dreaded the day but she had to admit that the shoes Kris had borrowed her were surprisingly comfortable so far.

Katherine fumbled for her doctoral cap. "I can't believe we passed. I can't believe _you_ passed," she said in Emily's direction.

"I'm simply a genius." Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"Anna stop biting your nails!" Kristina scolded forcing Anna's hand away from her mouth.

"Are you still nervous Annie?" Emily asked.

"Maybe a tiny bit," Anna admitted.

"Ne t'en fais pas. You'll be great." Katherine tried to encourage her.

"I have to hold a blasted speech in front of hundreds of people. And they didn't tell me about it until three days ago. You don't tell someone to hold a speech until three days in advance. That should be illegal!" She tried to raise her hands to keep biting her thumbnail but Kristina held her wrists in a tight grip.

"Non! Don't even think about it." Kris turned to the others. "Why don't you two already go inside and save us four seats? I'm going to try to calm miss-super-nervous here down.

"Okay," Emily linked arms with Kat, "But keep her from biting those nails. It took me ages to polish them this perfect." The two of them vanished into the crowd flooding into the auditorium.

Kris turned to her friend. "All right, chérie. Now I want you to close your eyes."  
Anna did as she was told. "Very good. Now take deep and even breaths. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Focus on your breath. Feel it entering through your nose and leave your body through your mouth. Feel it relax yourself. Excellent." She let go of Anna's wrists. "How do you feel now?"

"I think I'm gonna vomit."

"You better don't do that. There's your boyfriend coming."

Anna's eyes snapped open and she saw Caius, wearing black trousers and a black button-down shirt, approaching them. Demitri close on his heels.

"WOW! You never mentioned that Caius has a brother." Kristina smiled her angelic smile at Demitri.

"He's not his brother. He's a friend of ours."

"Even better. Then you won't have any objections." They reached the girls, "Hi, you must be Caius. Anna has told me so much about you. It's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Kristina." She put her hand forth and Caius shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Kristina. Yes, I am Caius. And this is..."

"I am Demitri." Demitri chipped in and flashed his white teeth at Kristina. "Anna, you never told me how pretty your friend is."

"You told them about me?" Kris asked clearly pleased with what she had just heard.

Anna felt a bit helpless with her best friend flirting with one of the most dangerous vampires in the world. "Umm... yeah, well, kinda." She looked at Caius but he didn't seem to see a problem with it.

"And yet she's never told me about you." she laughed lightly.

"A shame. But you know her. She is not very talkative. Especially not when she is visiting Caius."

"I should have known that."

 _"Hey! We're standing right next to you!"_

"Umm... Kris didn't you want to join Em and Kat?" Anna asked innocently.

"Huh?"

"Em? Kat? Inside?"

"Oh. Yes. I'll head inside then. Do you want to come with me Demitri?"

"I would love to." Demitri smiled and followed Kristina.

As he brushed past Anna she hissed under her breath "Don't you dare to even think about making my best friend your next meal."

Demitri nodded ever so slightly, murmured still grinning "Don't worry." and vanished in the crowd together with Kristina.

Caius put her arm around her waist. "He won't hurt her. I promise." He pulled her close to him and kissed her. "I am so very proud of you. Congratulations, il mio angelo." He beamed at her. "Now, are you still nervous about this speech?"

"I hope so. And would you please not mention it? I feel like I'm gonna throw up up there. No matter how many times Alice says that I will do fine."

"You _will_ do fine. And speaking of the seer, what are _they_ doing here?" Anna followed Caius gaze and saw the whole Cullen family making their way through the crowd.

"I invited them. Be nice, will you?" She went over to greet them.

"Anna, I'm so proud of you!" Alice exclaimed, "I knew you'd make it."

"Of course you knew Alice," Anna smiled sarcastically at her.

"Congratulations Anna," Carlisle said in his calm voice and then added, "Hello, Caius. It's nice to see you again. How are you?"

"Hello Carlisle. I am fine, thank you." Caius answered a bit stiff. He didn't smile but at least he didn't glare at them either. Anna took his hand and gave it a little squeeze. An awkward silence fell over them only interrupted by the happy chatter of the other people around them.

Anna bit her lip. "Okay, erm, we'll go inside then before all the good seats are gone. I see you guys later." She waved lightly at the Cullens and dragged Caius inside.

* * *

"And 3, 2, 1," Emily whispered in Anna's ear.

"Shut up, Em!" Anna hissed in a whisper. Her fingers were intertwined into each other out of nervousness. At least it kept her from biting her nails.

"And now we will hear one of our best graduates," the headmaster announced from the stage, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Annabeth Cole."

The people applauded and Anna's heart sank into her boots. She froze in her place and her feet refused to move. Emily bopped her elbow into Anna's side. "Get your ass up there!" she breathed.

 _"Move, feet! Move! Please move!"_ she thought desperately. Slowly she got up and started to walk towards the stage. Has this aisle always been so long? The passing seconds felt like hours. She felt the eyes of everyone resting on her. _"One step after another. Don't trip. You're almost there."_ She climbed the stairs and walked over to the standing desk where the headmaster waited and smiled brightly at her.

Her hands gripped the edges of the desk firmly in a desperate attempt to steady herself. She prayed it wouldn't come across like it though.

She looked up and tried to smile. But as she saw the many people watching her she felt worse than before. The room fell silent and everyone looked anticipatory at her. Her heart beat so hard she was afraid it would burst out of her chest any moment. Her brain felt empty. Everything she had prepared was gone. Panic struck her. What now?

Her eyes found Caius'. There he was, in the middle of the crowd, next to Demitri, smiling at her.

Anna's mind focused entirely on him. Her mouth opened and she started to speak.

"Good afternoon, esteemed faculty and families of my fellow graduates. Thank you, for coming here today and celebrating this long awaited day with us. After years of studying, working and praying we finally did it. We passed our final exams and today we are graduating from university.

Today we feel strong, like whatever the future will bring us, we will be ready for it. We feel invincible. It is easy to feel like this on a beautiful day like today. But there will be darker times ahead of us too.

In this past years we learnt to stick to the law. To execute it. What we didn't learn is that what the law says and what we feel is the right thing to do isn't always the same. I know that now more than ever.

There will be times when you will come into conflict with your conscience. Times when you don't know what to do, when you feel torn inside. But you must promise me, that if this ever happens, stand up for what _you_ believe in. No matter what people say or expect you to do. It takes courage to stand alone. But the world needs more of that. And even if you fail, at least you can say 'I did my best'. At least you can get up every morning and still face yourself in the mirror. And isn't that worth more than everything else?

Don't let others make decisions for you. Do it yourself. Don't do something for money or prestigiousness. Do it because it is right. Because _you_ feel it is right. This is your life. Make it count for something.

As we look around here today we see all the people who made us who we are. The people we love most in this world. And I know, in this moment it feels like saying goodbye. But this is not the end. It is only a new beginning.

I had an amazing time here and I will miss you all very dearly.  
Congratulations to my fellow graduates. You did brilliantly. Now come up here to receive your diploma and feel invincible. Today, we are."

* * *

"Where are you?" Kristina shouted into her mobile. She, Demitri and Caius were standing in the auditorium among groups of people embracing and shouting words of congratulation to each other.

"I just went home real quickly to change into something comfortable. We are leaving for the airport right after celebrating and I don't want to spend hours and hours of flying in a short dress. And besides, those shoes were killing me."

"Those were original Jimmy Choo's!"

"And if they had been Hermes' winged sandals. They were hurting my poor feet."

"Ignoramus! Okay, we'll wait outside. Hurry up, Annie!" She put her mobile back into her purse and motioned her head towards the entrance. "Let's get out of here!" she half shouted to Caius and Demitri not knowing that they would have understood her even if she had whispered. The three of them made their way out.

"Where is she?" Caius asked as they stood outside where it was considerably calmer. The people out here weren't shouting at each other.

"She went to our flat to change into something comfortable." Caius' mouth quirked into a smile. Kris looked at him puzzled. "You knew that?"

"I thought something like this. I know my girl."

"You know, you are kinda weird. But you and Anna are very cute together," she raised a finger and pointed it at Caius, "Don't break her heart."

Caius looked baffled and Demitri stifled a laugh knowing that if he laughed out loud he would pay for it in one way or the other. But still, seeing Kristina, a mortal nonetheless, telling the cruellest vampire in the world what to do was somehow hilarious.

Before any of them could say anything else the two vampires heard something through the noise. Someone was calling for Caius.

"Caius! Caius!" Alice Cullen pushed her way through the groups of talking people. "Caius! You have to call Anna immediately!" The pixie came to stand in front of them. Her face showed an expression of utter panic.

"What?" Caius snapped at her.

"Call your mate. Now. Please. I've...," she lowered her voice a bit, "I've seen something. She could be in danger."

"In danger?" Kristina asked bewildered and looked back and forth between Caius and Alice. "What did you 'see'? And what's a mate?"

Caius pulled out his mobile and dialled Anna's number. She picked up at the second ring. "Caius, I'll be there in two minutes. I'm just around the corner."

"Where are you Anna?" Caius asked insistently.

"Around the corner. As I just said. What's wrong? You sound peculiar."

"Anna, please stay where you are and tell me exactly where you are."

"Umm okay. I'm two streets away from university. Near The Diner..."

"I know where that is. Come. And keep her on the phone." Alice started to walk as fast as she could without raising any suspicion. Caius, Demitri and Kristina followed close behind her.

"We are on our way, love. Please stay on the phone. Keep talking to me."

"We? Would someone please tell me what's wrong? Why are you so worried? And was that Alice in the background?"

They crossed the court of the faculty and the street in front of it. "Yes, this was Alice. She said she saw something. You might be in danger. Is there anyone around you?"

"No, I'm alone. What did Alice see?" Now Anna sounded worried too. She took Alice's visions very seriously.

"I don't know exactly," they were practically running now, Alice leading them. One street and one corner away from her. "But she sounded quite worried about it and..." One corner. Suddenly the line went dead.. "Anna? Anna!" Caius pushed past Alice and rounded the corner in front of them, phone still in hand.

The street in front of him was empty but her scent still lingered in the air proofing that she had been here mere seconds ago.  
His feet hit something. He looked down. Anna's mobile was lying on the concrete. Someone had crushed it with great force. Anna herself was nowhere to be seen.

She was gone.

 _Translation:_

 _Ne t'en fais pas = Don't worry  
Non = No  
Chérie = Darling  
Il mio angelo = My angel_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Gone**

Bella was standing at the large window front at the Cullen's house looking out into the dark woods.

Behind her Alice was sitting on the couch, her knees pulled up to her chin and her eyes squeezed shut. She was desperately trying to get a vision of Anna's whereabouts.

"They're back," Bella announced as she saw Caius, Demitri, Emmet and Jasper appear between the trees.

After finding out about Anna's abduction Caius hadn't wasted a second and had tried to track her down along with Demitri. Emmet and Jasper had followed them to help shortly afterwards. They had all been gone until long after nightfall.

Now they were all stalking up the door steps, Caius in front. He looked livid.

"What happened?" Bella asked.

"We lost her," Jasper said soundless.

"How could you lose her? You've got the best tracker in the world with you."

A small growl sounded from Caius direction and Demitri looked embarrassed at his feet. "Her scent disappeared shortly after the border to Idaho. I can't track her."

"But this is impossible! She can't just vanish into thin air." Bella exclaimed.

"Obviously it can," Caius hissed. "How are we supposed to find Anna if even the best tracker in the world can't find her?"

"I am sorry, Master. This has never happened before. I don't know why..." Demitri tried to explain.

Caius glared at Demitri and opened his mouth to interrupt him but Carlisle was faster. "We should all calm down. Caius, we are all worried about Anna. Alice over there already does her best to find her. All we can do now is wait."

"Wait? My mate has been abducted by an unknown vampire, we cannot track down! She is out there all alone with a killer and there is nothing I can do about it! How can you ask me to..."

"I got her!" Alice shrieked and all eyes turned to her. "I saw her. And The Charles Bridge in Prague."

"Is she all right? Did they hurt her?" Caius asked forgetting his anger for a second but Alice just shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. I'm sorry but all I saw were those two shreds."

"So they brought her to Europe." Emmet said.

"Apparently. Demitri, we are flying back to Volterra immediately. Perhaps you can take up her scent again once we're there."

Demitri got to his feet and followed Caius to the front door.

"Wait!" Alice called, "I'm coming with you. I want to help."

"We all want to help," Bella said.

Caius shot them a glare. He didn't seem the least bit happy about the prospect of the whole Cullen clan coming to Volterra. For a moment he pondered about his possibilities. But in the end the fear for his love overweighed.

"Fine," he all but growled. "But hurry! We are leaving now!"

He tore the door open.

And bumped right into Kristina who had been hurrying up the front steps. The girl was wrapped up in a thick coat, her hair pulled up in a messy bun and a stressed out expression on her face.

"Have you found Anna yet? Are there any news? Is she all right?" she sputtered.

Caius glared at her. He was not in the mood to answer any questions. All he wanted to do now was getting back to Europe and find his mate. And all those people holding him up agitated him beyond measure.

He bit his tongue so he wouldn't growl at Kristina. After all she was Anna's best friend.

"No. We haven't found her yet," he replied shortly and pushed past her.

"Where are you going?" Kristina asked him. "My best friend is missing. We have to do something."

"We will do something, Kristina." Demitri, who had been following Caius, assured her.

"By leaving?" she asked incredulously.

"Well, yes."

Alice, Jasper, Emmet, Carlisle and Bella showed up behind Kristina attempting to follow Caius and Demitri. They had decided that Esme, Rosalie and Edward would stay behind to look after Renesmee.

"We won't be gone for long," Bella said, "Believe me, it's for the best."

Now Kristina's questioning eyes turned to her. "How can you leave now? Anna's gone. She's probably been kidnapped! We have to tell someone. We have to call the police!"

"Kristina, we _are_ the police for cases like this." Demitri said before he could stop himself.

"What?" Kristina asked bewildered at the same time as Caius sharply hissed "Demitri!"

Demitri bit his lower lip but it was too late. He had already said too much.

"What do you mean by you are the police for cases like this? What cases are you talking about?"

"One more word Demitri..." Caius threatened.

"I... I meant... Look we will find Anna but we have to leave town for that and you need to leave the police out of this," he tried to explain weakly.

But Kristina wasn't giving up so fast. "The hell I will! Anna's my best friend and she needs help!"

Demitri looked extremely uncomfortable about this whole situation while Caius looked extremely irritated.

"Enough of this already! Demitri! Get here or I will personally drag you to the plane by your throat," he spat.

Demitri moved to follow his Master's order but Kristina grabbed his arm "Oh no! You stay here and tell me what the hell is going on!"

With one swift move Demitri had her up the stairs and pressed her small body against the house wall next to the door. "Damn it Kristina, we will find her but you have to trust me."

Kristina blinked at him her mouth open in shock forgetting completely about Anna for a moment. "How did you do that?" she whispered, "We were standing down there a second ago."

Demitri, already regretting his small outburst, carefully released her but didn't say anything. He just looked at her uncertain while she eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"What are you?" she finally asked. Before Demitri could respond anything to that Caius lost it.

He flitted up the stairs and got Demitri by the throat. "We will talk about this later. Get your bloody feet moving and get to the plane. And take the mortal with you. Now!" he growled through gritted teeth.

"Jazz you have to calm him down." Alice whispered anxiously.

"I don't think Caius would respond very well to this right now." Jasper murmured lowly while keeping an eye on the blond Volturi king in front of them.

Caius was infamous for his fits of rage but none of them, with exception of Carlisle, had ever witnessed one. And they had all been very glad about this little fact.

"Yes, Master. Right away." Demitri stuttered fearful, grabbed Kristina by the arm and started to pull her with him before Caius could explode again.

"What are you doing? Why is he calling me mortal? Hey! Ouch! That hurts! Let me go! Or I swear I'll scream!" she protested loudly.

"If you scream you are going to regret it, girl," Caius snarled stepping so close that his face was only inches from hers. His eyes were glistening, leaving no doubt of what he would do if she didn't shut up instantly.

The worry over his mate ate him up, bringing the beast inside him to surface.

Kristina stared at him truly horrified. How could this possibly be the man her best friend was so irrevocably in love with? The one she had always talked about with that special expression on her face. An expression of pure happiness. The man she had longed to see for half a year?

The man she was facing now just couldn't be the reason for this. He seemed downright mental. Cruel. And dangerous.

He seriously scared the crap out of her and she didn't dare to say another word. Instead she just let Demitri drag her with him into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Photograph**

Caius pushed the wooden doors which lead to the throne room open causing everyone to turn their heads to him.

As soon as they saw his expression of utter anger they froze with horror and didn't move an inch, all of them praying he wouldn't turn his attention towards them.

The only one moving in the large stone room were Marcus and Aro, both of them wearing an expression of worry on their faces.

"Brother," Aro exclaimed and flitted over to him taking his hand into his own, "Is it true?"

Caius tore his hand free of Aro's grip and looked at him irritated. "Yes, it is. She is gone. No need rifle through my thoughts. Now, where are is that blasted blonde you always gush about? If she is such a brilliant tracker, as you always claim her to be, she should be able to find Anna in no time."

He looked around, his eyes searching for Rosemarie.

"She isn't here. In fact, I haven't seen her for some time. She must be somewhere around the castle." Marcus said.

"You!" Caius barked at one of the guards and the young man shrunk back in fear, "Go and get her here!"

The young man nodded hastily and disappeared. Moments later he showed on his coat-tails.

The blond woman entered the throne room looking around wary. She stepped in front of the kings and bowed her head in respect.

"You wanted to see me, Masters?"

"Yes. I want you to find Anna," Caius snapped at her while Aro raised his hand towards Rosemarie.

"Rosemarie, my dear. Where have you been all those days?"

"You want me to find your mate, Master Caius?" the blonde asked innocently, completely ignoring Aro's question and his outstretched hand, "She is gone?"

"This is none of your concern. Just find her."

"Yes, Master. I will try my best."

Behind them the Cullens, Kristina and Demitri entered the throne room. The latter eyed Rosemarie sceptical. "Then won't you need something that belonged to her to take up her scent?"

Rosemarie shot him a poisonous look before turning back to the kings and smiled sweetly at them. "I will indeed. Something she touched or wore recently would be perfect."

"I will give you something. Come along." Caius turned on his heels and walked past the visitors and out of the room with Rosemarie following close behind him.

Aro frowned at her back. The young woman had been very careful not to touch him in any way as she had walked past him to follow Caius. _"How very strange,"_ he thought, _"Could it be..."_ but his thoughts were interrupted by Carlisle who had stepped forward and smiled gently at his old friends.

"Aro, Marcus, it is so nice to see you again despite the unfortunate circumstances that brought me and my family here."

Aro smiled widely at him. "It is indeed, my dear friend. But it seems to become a habit of ours to meet under the worst circumstances."

His eyes fell on Kristina who had so far successfully tried to hide behind Emmet. "And who might your young friend be?"

Kristina stepped around Emmet and bit her lip sheepishly. "I'm Kristina," she introduced herself quietly.

"And just what have you to do with all of this, Kristina?" Aro asked genuinely curious.

She glared at Demitri. "He dragged me here because that creep Caius told him to do so. And now I'm here instead of helping to find Anna."

"I see," Marcus murmured, smiling knowingly at Demitri who looked a bit uneasy.

"She knows," he mumbled, "Something has slipped my mouth and Master Caius ordered me to take her with us.

"Oh dear, how deplorable." Aro's smile vanished for a few seconds until Marcus tipped his index finger against the back of his hand. Suddenly he beamed at Demitri. "But then again..." het let the sentence linger in the air unfinished and looked happily from Demitri to Kristina.

"Why? is this deplorable? What does this even mean? And why do you keep calling Caius 'Master'? What kind of sect did you guys drag me in here?" her gaze desperately searched the faces in the room for answers.

But it was hopeless. Most of them she didn't even know and the ones she did know just returned her gaze with sad eyes as if to say 'I'm sorry'.

None of them moved. None of them spoke. They just stood there like statues. Kristina's heart dropped. Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Why is no one telling me what's going on?" she cried out, her eyes overflowed and the tears streamed down her pretty face.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. Marcus had moved over to her, one hand on her shoulder, the other one offering her a tissue.

Kristina took it hesitantly. " _Merci_ ," (Thank you) she sniffed.

"I think the young lady here is right. We owe her an explanation. But not here. We shall move this conversation to my study. Caius will find us there."

* * *

Rosemarie followed Caius through the corridors of the castle to his and Anna's chambers. As soon as they had entered Caius had flitted over to the dresser and had started to roam through one of the drawers.

Rosemarie looked around the room in awe. How long had she dreamed of being in here with Caius alone. And now finally...  
If only he would take his attention from this stupid mortal for one second.

Finally Caius found what he had been looking for. He pulled out the flowery scarf Anna had always worn to _'add a touch of colour to all the black'_ as she had put it.

He closed his eyes and lowered his face inhaling her scent deeply. It was so prominent that for a moment he thought that when he opens his eyes she would be standing right beside him, quirking an eyebrow at him like she always did and ask him, with that little smile playing on her lips, just what exactly he was doing there with her favourite scarf.

But when he opened his eyes she was still gone. The only thing reminding him of her was the soft fabric in his hand.

He turned to Rosemarie and held the scarf out to her. "Here. That should suffice. She..." Before he could finish his sentence his mobile rang.

Slightly irritated he snatched it out of his pocket and looked on the caller ID. It showed 'Unknown Number'. He put the scarf in Rosemarie's hand and accepted the call.

"Yes?" he asked sharply.

"Hmmm... Caius. As polite as always," said a voice with a familiar accent on the other end, "Almost 3000 years and you haven't changed a bit."

"Vladimir," Caius growled into the phone.

"Very good. I see you remember me."

"What do you want?" Caius spat.

"I want to ask you something. Tell me, don't you miss something?"

"What are you...?" and then it came to his mind that the vampire he was looking for might not be as unknown as he had thought.

"What did you do to her? I swear if you hurt her I will..."

"Oh she is fine. Until now. Of course she is unconscious. But soon she will wake up. And then she will learn a little something about what it means to be mated to you."

Caius could see Vladimir's devilish grin before his inner eye. They were very similar to each other, he and Vladimir.

Both of them were excellent fighters, brilliant strategists and none of them was afraid of doing everything necessary to get what they wanted.

And being a Romanian, Vladimir and his companion Stefan wanted revenge. And Anna would be their key to it.

Only the thought of it made Caius sick to the core.

"I will find you. And if you so much as touch her you will pay for it!"

"I highly doubt that you will find us. As you certainly have noticed we have some aces up our sleeves. One is to make sure that none of you Italian scum can find us."

From the corner of his eye Caius caught a movement.

"You see, a certain someone was very talkative about where we would find your little mate. And so very supportive in hiding our scent to your tracker," Vladimir continued.

Caius' eyes flickered through the room. Rosemarie tried to steal away from the room. He could see the fear in her eyes.

All of a sudden everything fell into place. Anna's abduction, Rosemarie's obsession over him, her gift as a tracker, why she had avoided Aro's touch.

Caius moved in the blink of a second, flitting through the room and slamming the door shut with one hand while the other one still pressed the mobile to his ear.

He moved his body in front of the door blocking Rosemarie's way out and shot her a deadly glare. The woman shrunk back.

"I will find you, you bastard," he repeated, "And then I will make you and everyone who helped you regret the day you were born."

Vladimir only laughed at him. "We will see about that," there was a noise in the background, "Oh, I believe she wakes up. I will have to end our little conversation then, Caius. But don't you worry. I will call again. And maybe I will let you speak to her then. If she still is in the condition to speak that is."

There was a click and the line went dead.

Caius growled ferocious and slammed the phone on a table close to him. Then he turned his full attention to Rosemarie.

Panic was written all over her face as he approached her.

"It was you, wasn't it?" he snarled, "You sold my mate to the Romanians."

With every step he took towards her she made one back.

"But Caius I was only doing it for us. Don't you see that you are better off without her? She was poisoning you. Changing you! But now you are free. Free to be with someone who understands you. Someone like me."

Caius got her by the throat with a snarl and slammed her into the stone wall. Cracks appeared in the stone where her body had collided with the wall.

"She was the only one who ever understood me. Who accepted me for who I am. Who saw the man behind the monster. She was the best thing that has ever happened to me and now she is gone because of you! Where. Did. They. Take. Her?" he pressed out between clenched teeth.

Rosemarie whimpered.

Caius tightened his grip on her throat. Cracks appeared around his hand.

The blonde whimpered even more. If she had been able to cry she would have. "I don't know! I swear I don't know!" she cried. "They just paid me to cover up their scent!"

"How?"

"It's an extension to my gift. I can track people and hide scents. They told me I should let it vanish shortly after the border to Idaho and so I did."

With a look of pure hatred he released her and she sagged to the ground sobbing dryly.

"Felix!" Caius yelled. A moment later the brawny vampire appeared in the room.

"Yes Master?"

"Take that whimpering bitch to the dungeon and make sure she stays there. I will deal with her later. And then instruct Demitri and the elite of the guard to prepare to leave. We are heading to Romania."

Felix nodded, roughly pulled the still sobbing Rosemarie to her feet and hauled her out of the room.

"No! Caius, please you can't do this! Please don't send me to the dungeon!" she pleaded.

Caius slammed the door shut behind them and her cries died out.

He took a deep breath and then realised that his hands were clenched into tight fists. Slowly he relaxed his muscles.

Anna's scarf laid on the floor in the middle of the room where Rosemarie hat dropped it. Slowly he went to it, picked it up and carefully folded it to put it back in the drawer.

Then he opened the second drawer beneath it. It contained his shirts. He lifted up the first one on the right stack. On the black fabric beneath it laid a picture.

He took it out, closed the drawer and went over to one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace and sat down.

A wave of sadness washed over him as he looked at the picture in his hand. It was a Polaroid showing Anna sitting on a field of grass on a cloudy day. In her arms she held a puppy. Her hair was tousled by the wind. She didn't wear makeup and she smiled brightly into the camera.

He had taken her out to show her Tuscany a few days before she had left for university and they had come across a farm who gave away puppies.

Anna had insisted that since they couldn't get one they at least take one with them for a walk.

During the walk Caius had played around with Anna's camera and this picture had come out. Anna had told him to keep it so he had something to look at while she was gone.

 _'And in 6 month you can look at the real me again.'_ she had said.

But now the 6 months were over and he still looked at the picture instead of the real Anna.

"Anna," he whispered and his mask crumbled, leaving his face to show the pain he felt right now. He squeezed his eyes shut and hunkered over the picture. His shoulders shook as he started sobbing dryly.

For the first time in forever he wished he could cry.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. "I am going to find you, love. I promise you, I will."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **The Romanians**

When Anna woke up everything was dark around her. Her head hurt and she groaned with pain. Had someone hit her? She couldn't remember.

She blinked against the darkness trying to figure out where she was.

The first thing she noticed besides the darkness was that it was freezing and that the ground she lay on was damp. A cave maybe?

No. Although the ground was undoubtedly made out of stone it was too even to be a cave. A room then. She took a deep breath and smelled mouldy air, straw and dirt.

Something next to her moved in the darkness and Anna got frightened, instinctively rolling away from whatever it was. Her head hit something hard. A stone wall. _"Yes,"_ she thought rubbing her forehead, _"Definitely a room."_ But what room smelled like dirt and straw?

A bunker, maybe a barn. Or a cell.

Groaning she sat up still rubbing her forehead. She could already feel it swelling up. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" a female voice asked her worried. Anna stopped rubbing her forehead at once. Her lips parted as if to say something but not a sound came out. The voice, _this_ voice, stirred something deep within her.

Memories of a time long ago. Pictures appeared before her inner eye. Images of happier days. Brighter days. But this couldn't be. It was impossible!

"Anna, are you hurt?" the voice asked again?

Anna blinked trying to adjust her eyes to the blackness around her. Slowly she could make out shapes.

One shape was right in front of her. It was big. Clearly a person. Her sight cleared a bit more and she started to see the face of the person.

A Fringe. Shaggy hair. A slim face. High cheekbones. Big eyes. It was too dark to make it out but Anna was absolutely positive that they were blue. A clear blue with just a hint of grey in them.

"It can't be," she whispered. "It can't. You're dead."

"I feel pretty alive," Cara smiled half-heartedly. "Although, somehow I wish I was dead."

"Oh my god!" she flung her arms around Cara's neck, "You're alive! All this time I thought you were dead." Tears of relief and happiness came to her eyes. "What happened to you?"

"It's complicated," Cara said while hugging her back fiercly. "It's all so weird. I haven't figured it out yet myself." She let go of Anna and looked at her insecure.

"I... I don't want to scare you," she said soundlessly.

Anna looked at her sympathetically. "Believe me Cara, there's not much left that could actually scare me."

"Okay, where should I begin?" she hesitated a bit, "As you know I have been travelling in Europe before I disappeared. So, I was in France and I met this other girl. She seemed really nice and she was travelling too. She told me about the landscapes and the history of East Europe. It sounded so amazing.

However she was scared to travel there alone so I suggested that I skip Sweden and go with her." The words were now flowing from her mouth, "And that's the last thing I really remember. Then everything is kind of... blurry, you know.

One moment we were staying in a hostel in Poland and the next thing I know is waking up in darkness. Not here though. It was much warmer than here.

There were voices too. Two men. And the girl, Julia. They were talking in an foreign language. Polish maybe, I don't know. The I have some black spots. Every time I woke up at different places. Always dark. And always alone." She fell silent for a moment before continuing in a low voice.

"Then they started to 'visit'. They would always come alone. I couldn't see them in the darkness but I felt them.

The air turned ice-cold once they had entered the room. Then they pushed me around until I lost orientation. Sometimes they would hit me. And then they... they..." her voice cracked and sobs shook her fragile body.

"They bit you." Anna finished the sentence for her. "They drank your blood, didn't they?"

Cara nodded, pressing her hands to her mouth. "Yes," she sobbed.

Pity overwhelmed Anna and she took her former best friend into her arms. "I'm sorry." She whispered, "I'm so sorry."

"It hurt so much," Cara cried into her shoulder, "Every time they 'visited' I wished that they would kill me this time but they never did. They always left me lying on the floor, writhing in pain. Bleeding. Close to death but not close enough."

" _A walking blood bag,"_ Anna thought frowning. Jane had once told her that having your personal 'blood bag' had been very popular a few decades ago. It was like having a pet of some sort. You fed them, you cared for them - just enough so they didn't die - and you could drink from them whenever you felt like it.

Today it wasn't so easy to have one though. Times had changed a lot and people got suspicious very quickly nowadays. But there were still some vampires who held on to that fashion.

Far away a door slammed. Steps approached.

Cara panicked and skidded closer to Anna holding her tight. "They're coming. They're coming to 'visit'," she whispered frightened to death.

The fear swapped over to Anna but she did her best to control it. _"You can handle Caius. You can handle this too."_ she thought grimly. _"Cara needs me now. Be strong, Anna."_

"It's gonna be okay C. They won't hurt you, I promise." she tried to comfort Cara who was trembling with fear. _"They are not here for you anyway."_

This was the very reason Caius didn't like her walking around all alone. He wasn't called ruthless for nothing. And there were people in this world who were all too eager to make him pay for whatever he had done to them.

And for them Anna was a target. An easy target at that. She was still mortal. Vulnerable. Hurting her would hurt Caius more than anything else.

Caius had known that. And deep inside her Anna had known it too. But she had still refused to walk around with a bodyguard all the time. No matter how often he had begged her to do so.

Right now, she wished she would have had listened to him.

But then again she wouldn't have found Cara. _"Caius will find me. He will find me and then we'll both get out of here."_

The door opened and the room was illuminated by the flickering light of a lantern.

"Now, now, look who is awake at last." a voice with a thick Romanian accent said. "It is about time."

Anna shoved the still trembling Cara behind her and stumbled to her feet. She wouldn't face her kidnappers crouching on the floor in front of them.

The fast movement made her head whirl and she saw colourful sparks for a moment. When her view cleared up again a blond vampire stood in front of her.

His hair was even whiter than Caius' and his eyes just as red. Even the evil grin he flashed her rivalled her mate's.

She remembered him. He had been there on the clearing last winter when the Volturi had confronted the Cullens.

"Who are you?" Anna asked the first question that popped into her mind.

"Oh, don't tell me your precious Caius failed to mention us. I am Vladimir and this," he motioned to the man standing behind him, "is Stefan. Certainly he has spoken about us at some point."

The other man laughed, "He has. Just look at her face."  
Anna looked at him. She recognised him too. Brown hair, hook-nose, red eyes. He had attended the confrontation as well.

 _"The Romanians. Oh, aren't I a lucky beggar."_

"And what do you want from me?"

Vladimir's grin dropped and he grabbed her by her throat and slammed her into the wall so hard it took her breath away. "We want to see Caius suffer."

He lifted her up a little more. Her feet lost contact with the ground. Choking she tried to loosen his grip around her throat. Her nails scratched over his stone hard skin and her feet kicked out trying to hit him where it hurt.

It was useless.

"But since we can't get our hands on him we take the second best." Vladimir continued to explain without paying any attention to her effort.

Her face turned slowly red.

"Careful there, brother. We don't want to kill her yet." Stefan interfered.

"True that," Vladimir mused and let go of Anna. She fell to the ground coughing. The blond Romanian crouched down next to her and slowly drew his fingernail across her cheek.

She felt warm blood run over her face where his nail had slit the skin.

"Now, let's see how much you can take, shall we?"

"Get away from her," Cara tried to help her but she was held back by Stefan.

Angrily Anna pushed Vladimir's hand, which was now smearing the blood over her cheek, away. "Leave her out of this!"

She got to her feet only be thrown across the room by Vladimir. "Feisty, aren't we?"  
He flitted over to her and kicked her in the side.

She flew back. Her head hit the wall causing her blood to whoosh in her ears. Cara screamed her name. It sounded muffled as if she was under water.

Vladimir came over to her. "Get up, mortal. We are not done yet," he snarled yanking at her hair until she got to her feet. "We are only getting started."

He held her in a tight grip while his nails scratched over her temple. Blood dropped from the wounds he left there, running slowly down her face.

Anna bit her tongue not to scream.

He looked down at her apparently disgruntled about her silence and slapped her across the face. "Scream, you damn mortal!" he yelled at her.

The blow brought tears to her eyes again but she refused to make a sound and let him know her pain.

"So much like him," The vampire in front of her pondered. He held up two fingers marvelling at them. They were smeared with Anna's blood.

Slowly he licked the blood from his index finger, Anna watching in horror.

"Delicious," the evil grin returned, "How about a bit more?"

Fast like a striking snake he dove for her neck. His teeth sunk deep into her skin as if she was made of butter.

And finally Anna screamed.

 _"I can't wait for Caius to get me out of here. I have to find a way myself,"_ was the last thing she thought before everything went black again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Escape**

Anna slowly regained consciousness. Every bone, every muscle in her body hurt. For a brief moment she wondered if anything was broken. Slowly she moved a finger. Then her arm. It was painstakingly. But apart from that everything seemed to be all right.

Most of the pain was caused by her throat anyway.

She had fallen down from her bike when she had been a kid and skinned her knee. The pain she had felt back then described pretty much how her throat felt now. Only ten times worse.

"Anna can you hear me?" Cara leaned over her, her face anxiously.

"Yes," she croaked. Speaking made it worse. She wanted to get up. The floor she was lying on was damp, cold and uncomfortable. The back of her jumper was already soaked and the cold caused her to feel chilly.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself to. The pain was too big and her body too weak. She felt tired and a bit dizzy because of the blood loss.

Carefully she felt for the wound at her throat. It hurt like hell but it didn't bleed. Vladimir must had sealed the wound by licking over it. His saliva held the blood in her body and stopped the venom from spreading.

It also meant that he would be back for more.

"Are you okay?"

"No," she said, "Some revengeful idiot just threw me through a room and then bit me." She looked at her friend. "Cara how could you have taken it for so long? We need to get out of here."

"We can't get out of here. This cell is made of solid stone. Besides they would catch us right away. Have you seen how fast they are?"

Anna propped up on her elbow. Even that little movement made her groan in pain. "Listen, I have lived with vampires for quite some time now. I know what they can do and I know that our chances are as good as nil. But we have to try. They won't stop with this. And I don't know if I will survive another round."

"Why are they doing this? And who is this Caius they were talking about?"

Devitalised Anna sank back to the ground. "It's complicated. Caius is sort of my boyfriend and..." she hesitated, looking up one of the cell walls pointing at something, "What is that?"

Cara followed Anna's gaze. "That's a window I guess. Makes it a tiny bit less dark during the day."

Adrenaline flooded through her veins, she sat bolt upright and regretted it immediately. Pain joined the adrenaline but she tried her best to ignore it. "This isn't up too high. It could be our way out."

"Have you lost your mind? It's barred. We'll never get those iron bars out of the stone wall." Cara responded incredulous.

"But the wall isn't made of stone."

"Of course it is."

"No. Can't you smell the wet dirt?" She leaned back on one hand and gestured to said wall. "This wall is made of tamped dirt. When the built the cell they probably dug a hole and then divided it by building stonewalls."

Despite the dizziness and the stinging pain in her throat she got to her feet. "Can you give me a leg up. I want to have a closer look at this window."

Cara still looked doubtfully but she walked over to the wall and folded her fingers into each other.

Anna put one foot in them and Cara lifted her up. "Like the old days, eh?" she smirked.

"We're still a good team C."

Anna grabbed one of the iron bars and examined them. There were two of them. The bottom ends were dug in the solid earth. She felt for the other ends.

Suddenly she smiled in surprise. They weren't inserted into the stone. The architect of this cell had simply put the bars in-ground and then built a crescent-shaped window around it.

 _"If I..."_ she started to scratch away some of the dirt. She had to dig her nails deep into the earth before it became loose.

"This is gonna get a little dirty," she warned Cara as the first pieces started to fall down.

Soon her nails were crusted with blood and dirt but it didn't stop her. Piece after piece the dirt came away.

"Could you hurry up just a little bit with whatever you are doing up there? You're not 11 anymore." Cara complained in a whisper.

"Neither are you. Almost got it." Anna pulled at one of the bars. It dangled and she pulled harder. With a jerk the bar gave in. Anna lost balance and fell hard on her back.

"Anna," Cara gasped, "Are you hurt?"

"Not more than I've already been."

"Do you think they've heard that?" Cara asked in a whisper.

"Certainly," Anna whispered back, "Can you lift me up again? I want to get out of here as fast as possible."

Cara nodded and went back to her position at the wall.

Anna climbed up again and started to pull at the second bar. It came away much easier than the first one.

"Got it. Lift me up a bit farther."

"Do I look like a bodybuilder?"

"C'mon now," Anna hissed.

With great effort Cara lifted her up farther and Anna forced herself through the window and into freedom.

Relieved she breathed in the fresh air of the night. The night was as freezing as the cell and clear. She could see the stars. She looked around.

The stone wall next to her belonged to an old castle. It stood on a small hill, was all she could see. Behind her she saw trees. Lots of it. A forest.

She laid back down on her stomach and peered back into the cell.  
Not far below her stood Cara and looked up at her.

"You'll have to jump C. Grab my hands and I'll drag you out."

"I can't jump that high." Cara said hesitantly.

"Cara!" Anna hissed under her breath, "Don't be such a coward! Do you want to stay in there forever? Jump!"

"But..."

"Now!"

Moaning Cara made a few steps back as a start-up. She ran and jumped. Her hands grabbed Anna's forearms and Anna pulled.

Cara groaned in pain as her stomach scratched over the edge of the window.

"Almost there, almost there," Anna murmured through gritted teeth. Her muscles burned from the pain. She put all the strength she had left into her arms.

One last pull and Cara was out of her prison as well. For a second they just laid on the grass which grew in front of the window breathing heavily. The fresh air did good after the smelly air of the cell.

Cara smiled dreamily at the sky. "The moon," she whispered stirred, "I can see the moon. For the first time in so many years." Her eyes glistened.

Anna got up. "You ought to get up and run if you want to see it every day from now on." She pulled Cara to her feet and dragged her behind herself towards the forest. "Come."

* * *

The forest was dark. The moonlight barely made it through the thick branches. The two girls run through the understorey as fast as they could.

 _"It's pointless,"_ Anna thought in the back of her head, _"We'll never get away from them. They'll find us anywhere."_ But she kept running. At least she was doing something. This was better than sitting in a cell waiting for torture and death to come.

They ran until their lungs were close to bursting. They took a break and listened. Nothing but the noises of the forest.

 _"Of course we wouldn't hear them come."_ but she didn't say it out loud. "We have to move on C."

But Cara didn't move. She pointed to the trees on their left. "What is that?"

Anna starred into the direction Cara pointed. "What are you talking about?"

"There. Between the trees. There's something. Looks like a building."

Anna stepped next to her friend and squeezed her eyes. "I can't see anything."

Cara tugged at her arm. "But there's something. Come. Maybe we can hide there."

 _"Pointless!"_ she almost blurted out. But then she remembered Cara's face when she had looked at the sky after she had pulled her out of her prison.

Anna would never forget that look on her face. This look of relief, adoration and pure happiness. All those years Cara had been locked up in a dark prison. Had been tortured and hurt. And now she was free. Anna couldn't bring herself to tell her that it wouldn't last long.

So she let Cara pull her along towards whatever she saw.

* * *

As it turned out there was really something between the trees. It was a small castle. The ruins of a castle to be exact. Once it may had been stately but now it just looked sad as it stood there in the silver light of the moon. The remains of the once big walls were covered with moss and ivy.

Under different circumstances Anna would have found the ruins beautiful and romantic. Now, however, the only thing she could think about was getting more distance between themselves and that ruin.

Cara seemed to think no such thing. "This is perfect," she whispered enthusiastically, "We can hide here until daylight and then move on."

They stepped through the imposing archway which lead to an inner ward. They couldn't make out the whole space in the dark. Though the castle seemed small from the outside it was much bigger from the inside.

"We can't stay here. If we sleep on an open space like this we're vulnerable."

"Then let's see if we can find a way inside." Cara suggested and walked straight for one of the towers.

"Cara, what the hell are you doing?" Anna hissed and followed her. How could one be so careless?

"Look there's a door. It seems to lead inside." she pulled at the door knob.

"What the fuck? Are you mental? You can't just run around opening random doors. Who knows what's on the other side?"

But Cara had already opened the door and peered inside the tower.

"A stairway. It leads downstairs. Perhaps it leads to the old quarters of the guards."

"Yeah, I'd rather guess it leads to the dungeons. I already have seen the inside of a cell, thank you. Now come away from there. Hey! What are you doing?"

Without paying even the smallest amount of attention to her friend Cara started to walk down the stairs. Anna rushing behind her. She grabbed Cara's arm.

"Would you wait a second? What do you think you are doing?"

Cara looked at her surprised. "What? You said it yourself. We are vulnerable at an open space. Down here we'll be hidden and safe."

"We will be trapped!"

"Let's just have a look at it," Cara begged, "Come on. I'm just curious."

"You do know what they say about curiosity and what it did to the dog?"

"Just one look. I'll be right back, okay?"

"What? No. It's not okay. Do you think I'm gonna let you go down there alone?"

"Then come with me." and she started walking again.

 _"Jesus Christ! Didn't she learn anything in the past years?"_

Having no other choice Anna followed her into the darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Where my Demons hide**

Anna had been right. The stairs lead in fact down to a dark corridor which was seamed with cells. The doors to the cells were made out of iron bars. No wood at all. Just iron and stones.

Anna eyed the corridor warily. "Okay C. you've seen everything you wanted. Now let's get out of here."

"But we can sleep in one of the cells. No one would expect us down here."

It was true. Anna hated to admit it but Cara was right on this. Who would expect them in the dungeons right after they had escaped one?

"Oh, fine," she whispered throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Let's choose one of the cells."

They walked down the corridor and stepped in one of the cells which looked reasonably dry.

Different than the one they had been held captured in this one had no window. This little fact set Anna on an edge. A room completely made out of stone with no other escape than the entrance.

She looked around. Her gaze fell on the wall opposite the door. "What the...?" The stone was scarred by deep furrows as if something with very large claws had scratched across it.

"Cara look at this," she crossed the room to have a closer look. Her fingers run over the furrows. They were at least 5 inches long.

"What the devil did this?" she whispered. "Cara, look at this."

Behind her she heard a loud clunk.

Anna whirled around. Cara had left the cell and closed the iron grille behind her. She walked over to her friend. "Very funny, Cara. Now let me out." The blonde didn't move. Anna reached out and joggled the iron bars but the door was locked.

"Cara, what the hell!? Let me out of here!" Cara still didn't move. She just stood at the other side of the door her face blank of any expression.

"I bet that's what Viktor said before _he_ killed him," she said her voice hollow "'Let me out of here.' How does it feel, Anna? Being locked up in a cell with the sure perspective of death? Cut from the one you love?" She hissed the last part and her face turned into a mask of pure hatred. Her upper lip curled back baring her teeth and her eyes, her familiar blue eyes, turned ruby.

Anna starred at her best friend with wide eyes. "You're a vampire?" she whispered. Cara snarled at her. Her hand reached through the iron bars and pushed hard against Anna's chest causing the girl to fall backwards. Her hands scraped over the hard stone floor as she tried to quench her fall.

"You're very clever Anna. Yes I'm a vampire. I've been for quite a while now. But this doesn't answer my question. Tell me, how it feels to be trapped in here. Just like Viktor was."

"What the devil are you talking about? Who is Viktor?"

"As if you didn't know that!" Cara spat "He's my mate. He turned me so we could be together for eternity. And then _he_ killed him!"

"Who killed him?" Anna asked although she had a pretty good idea who her former best friend was referring to.

"Your precious mate! Caius Volturi!" Cara screamed at her. She sounded downright hysteric now. "He held him captive for months, tortured him and then he killed him for no reason! Just for the hell of it!" She gasped for unneeded air to calm herself down. "He killed my mate. And now I will kill his."

Anna couldn't believe it. This screaming girl in front of her looked like her best friend, moved like her. But it wasn't her. The Cara Anna had known since childhood was gone. Instead she faced a girl who had been eaten away by hatred and sadness.  
"You can't mean that Cara. You can't hold me responsible for something Caius did. We're friends. We've been for so long."

"Do you think that still means anything to me? I left my old life behind me the day I met Viktor. I gave up everything for him. He was the only reason for me to exist. And then the man you love so much destroyed everything. I couldn't go back anymore and I had no reason to go on. Except for this; to see him suffer the way I suffered!"

"But that must be years ago. I didn't even know Caius at that time."

"Would you have left him for what he had done to my mate if you had known him back then?"

Anna's guts tightened. _"No."_ she thought but she didn't say anything.

But Cara knew her, had known her for ages. She didn't need her to say it out loud. " You're a pathetic traitor Anna. I should have known that. It was my task to bring you here all along. You know, my coven, the Romanians, felt a little outnumbered to conquer the Volturi. So we looked for allies. And we found them." She smirked devilishly "The children of the moon were very fond of our idea to torture Caius Volturi. After all, he was the one who hunted them close to extinction. You will soon learn that my hatred is nothing compared with theirs. Welcome to hell Anna." And with that she disappeared leaving Anna alone in the dark stone cell.

* * *

Anna woke up by the sound of someone opening the cell door. She had curled herself up in a corner of the room as far away from the door as possible and had fallen asleep. In her dreams she had still been running through the woods of Romania but this time Cara hadn't been beside her. She had been the one hunting her.

"Get up, vampire-girl!" someone shouted. She blinked against the darkness. Three man had entered the room. They were all tall and muscle-bound. Their hair was cut short and their clothes were torn at some places and stained with dirt like they had been out in the wilderness for days. They had brought a lantern with them which illuminated the cell with a flickering orange light.

Anna scrambled to her feet but apparently she wasn't moving fast enough for the one who had shouted at her. With two large steps he crossed the room, grabbed her by her arms and pulled her roughly up. Her feet lost contact with the floor and for a moment she was dangling in the air. Then he put her to her back on her feet and pressed her against the stone wall examining her face. He brought up one finger.

"Now, aren't you a pretty little thing." She flinched as he stroke over her unharmed cheek and he laughed. His finger travelled over her lip. In the blink of an eye Anna's teeth snapped at the finger. With satisfaction she heard the man scream and tasted blood in her mouth. She smirked.

The man pulled his hand back and shook it to get rid of the pain. Upon seeing her smirk he slapped her across the face. "You little bitch!"

Anna felt her cheek burn where his hand had hit her. The cut Vladimir had left there had burst open again through the slap. Warm blood dripped down her cheek.

"A feisty little one. That's good. Get her upstairs Clyde," one of the other men said.  
The man whose finger she had bitten, Clyde, stepped back and pushed her towards the door. "Move it, girl. We're gonna have some fun with you."

They dragged her upstairs and to the bailey. The huge place wasn't empty nor dark anymore. The countless torches and the two fires that burned made the place bright as day. Around a hole in the middle of the court stood a lot of people. The air was full with words and cries.

As they approached the crowd they started to jeer and moved out of the way building a path for Anna and her guards. They shoved her through it to the edge of the hole where the girl jerked to a halt.

The man behind her, Clyde, grunted "Get down there." and pushed her forward. She overbalanced and fell head first into the hole. The walls weren't straight but slightly skewed like a ramp. Anna rolled into the pit and hit her shoulder hard on the ground. The dispersed dust made her cough roughly. The crowd cackled.

 _"Get to your feet Anna,"_ she told herself and got up whipping dirt and a little blood out of her face. In the bright light she could see that most of the crowd were men although she spotted a few women, dressed similar to the three who had gotten her out of the cell.

They were literally howling. _"Werewolves."_ she thought.

Suddenly the crowd became silent. "Welcome to the pit!" a deep voice behind her yelled. Anna whirled around. At the other side, at the head of the pit, stood a man with shaggy black hair, longer than the hair of the others. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and grinned down at her.

On his right side stood Clyde, he seemed to be second in command, and on his left side stood Cara and the desolated rest of the once largest coven on earth; Stephan and Vladimir. They seemed to be the only vampires here.

Anna opened her mouth to say something but the man, obviously the alpha of the pack, forestalled her.

"I am Nico. And this," he made a overhanging gesture with both his arms "is my pack." More howling and jeering. "And you, sweetheart, are here to train our youngsters."

The way he said 'sweetheart' made her want to gag. "Bring the first pup!"  
She heard a noise behind her and turned her head. A boy slid down the edges into the pit.  
"This is Kevin, sweetheart. He'll fight you."

 _"Fight me?!"_ was this guy insane?! _"I won't stand a chance!"_

"I can't fight him! In case you haven't noticed, I'm no vampire you bloody idiot!" she spat at Nico.

"Oh, we know that, sweetheart," he smirked. Anna wished he would stop calling her that. "He won't hurt you too badly. You hear me Kev? Don't kill her. We still want Caius witnessing her death."

The crowd cheered. Over the riot she heard the noise of ripping clothes and she knew that the boy behind her had changed.

As she turned around she saw that behind her stood a huge brown wolf baring his teeth at her.

"Fight!" Nico yelled and he pounced. Reflexive Anna dived to the right and out of reach. Growling the young wolf whirled around and charged again.

Anna tried to sidestep him again - what else could she do- but this time she was too slow. Pain shot up her leg as the wolfs teeth got hold of her ankle. With enormous strength he whirled her around, throwing her against the wall of the pit.

Her back collided with the hard dirt pressing the air out of her lungs. For a moment she saw stars.

Still gasping for air she tried to get back to her feet but the pain in her ankle brought her to her knees. Looking down at it she saw that it was bleeding. She grit her teeth and got up. Her body shook uncontrollably and the pain threatened to overwhelm her.

The cries of the crowd rang in her ears. Her field of vision became dark edges. The blackness spread. She felt dizzy. The last thing she saw before the darkness overwhelmed her was the brown wolf charging once again. Then nothing.

The first thing she noticed when she regained consciousness was the silence. No one was yelling or cheering. In fact she could hear the noises of the forest around the ruins of the castle. Someone was panting hard. It took her a second to realise that it was herself.

Her hair was falling in her face. She raised her hand to push it back and froze. Her hand was over and over covered in fresh blood. Not until then she noticed that she was holding something in her other hand. Something pulsating. Slowly she lowered her gaze to her right hand. What she saw made her sick to her core.

A heart. She was holding a throbbing, bloody heart. With a startled shriek she threw it away from her. This brought her gaze to what was in front of her.

The brown wolf was slumped down in a puddle of blood and guts at the ground of the pit in front of her. The angles in which his limbs were twisted looked very wrong.

Anna gasped in horror and stumbled backwards. Her stomach tightened and then she stooped down and vomited.

 **Hi there  
I hope you liked this chapter.  
What do you think happened with Anna?**

 **Read & Review**

 **Love X**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **The Monster I have become**

Someone lead her back to the dungeons and locked her up in the cell again. Anna barely noticed. She felt like she was captured in a dream. In a nightmare from which she couldn't wake up.

The man who had brought her back to the cell locked the door behind her. The girl didn't move. She just stood there a few feet from the door and starred at the ground.

Her hands and the hems of her sleeves were still covered with blood. It had dried by now, crusting her fingernails.

Numbly and with small, shuffling steps she walked over to the wall with the deep scratches in it and slit to the ground, leaning her back against the wall.

Slowly she turned her head and looked around the bare room. They hadn't brought her anything to wash her bloodied hands but in the corner close to her was a wet spot. Water that had dripped in from somewhere.

Hastily she crawled over to it and desperately tried to wash off the blood. But it wasn't nearly wet enough to get rid of it. At last she gave up and leaned back against the wall again. She felt tired and flabby. As if she had been running a thousand miles.

But every time she closed her eyes she saw the throbbing heart in her hand again.  
So she kept her eyes open and tried to stay awake. She was afraid to fall asleep. Afraid of what sleep would bring her.

She hadn't been scared to sleep since the time on the island with Caius.

Now more than ever she wished that he was here. That he would take her into his arms and tell her that everything would be all right.

But he wasn't here. She was alone on the cold and wet floor of a cell somewhere in Romania, hurt and covered in blood. Nothing was all right.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Caius," she whispered, "Get me out of here. Please get me out of here."

* * *

A piercing scream cut through the silence. Dan, who had been watching the entrance to the corridor with the cells, started up and rushed down the corridor to the cell with the vampire-girl.

She was lying on the opposite side of the cell, rolled-up into a ball screaming and crying in her sleep. Her face was red and swollen from crying.

Despite everything Dan had heard about the girl and especially her mate Caius Volturi he felt pity for her.

She seemed so fragile, vulnerable and scared as she laid there that he instantly felt the urge to go inside the cell to wake her from her nightmare and comfort her.

But then he remembered what he had witnessed her doing earlier in the pit and the feeling diminished.

"Hey!" he said aloud.

Nothing.

The air was still filled with her sobs.

"Hey!" he said a bit louder and kicked against the cell door, "Wake up!"

The girls eyes flew open. She blinked and her eyes shot through the room filled with panic and horror.

"It's okay," Dan told her, his voice much softer than he had wanted it to be but he couldn't help it, "You were just dreaming."

The girl seemed to come to the same realisation. But instead of calming down she started to cry even harder. She sat up and pressed her hand over her mouth.

"Oh god," she pressed out between sobs, "I've killed him."

That astonished Dan. What was she talking about? Of course she had killed the pup. They had all witnessed her breaking his limbs one by one and then tearing his heart out without batting an eyelid.

Why was she crying about it now?

"You didn't seem so regretful about it just after he had died," he said gloomy.

"What?" the girl raised her head.

"We've all seen you tearing his heart out without a second thought. How did you do it tho? I mean, you're not a bloodsucker, right?"

She just shook her head. "I didn't even know what I had done until just now."  
Her body shook with sobs again.

"What do you mean you didn't know?"

"I.. All I can remember is the wolf charging and the next thing I know is that I'm holding his throbbing heart in my hand."

She started to cry even harder. "I've become a monster," she whispered in tears.

Dan took a step closer to the door. "Wait a sec. This has never happened before?"

The girl shook her head.

"But what is it? And why now?"

"I honestly have no idea. All I know is that I want it to stop. I don't want to be like this."

"And yet you're okay with what your lover does." It was a statement not a question.

Her head snapped up. He had obviously hit a nerve because she glared at him her eyes glistening with tears and fury.

"Just because I love Caius doesn't mean I agree with everything he does!" she spat.

She had a point and Dan felt a bit bashful. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know what he did. But I also know that none of you knows him like I do," she said defiant.

"Is his love really worth this? They won't stop, you know? Your mate hunted our kind close to extinction. He made himself a reputation for torturing and killing lycanthropes. Nico wants to revenge for every single one of them."

"And you're okay with this?"

At first he didn't say anything. "One of them was my sister." he said quietly.

She seemed taken aback. "Oh. I had no idea."

"She was just a pup. She was walking in the woods alone when she crossed the path of the Volturi guards. She was young and inexperienced and upon smelling vampires she panicked and phased. They immediately killed her. She didn't stand a chance. She was only 11."

"I'm so sorry..." the girl repeated but hesitated at the last part because she didn't know his name.

"Dan," he said, "I'm Dan." He knew he shouldn't have told her that but she sounded so sincere and genuine. Not at all like the monster Nico had told them about.

 _'Only a monster like himself could love the blond king'_ , Nico had said.

But this girl was no monster. She was just an ordinary girl who had slithered into something she didn't understand. A girl who had happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 _"And with the wrong man"_ he thought.

"I'm Anna." he heard her say. She had stopped crying but her voice still sounded hoarse. "And I'm sorry about your sister. I know this doesn't bring her back but still."

Dan smiled a small smile. "I'm sorry too Anna. I like you, you know. You're nothing like Nico has told us."

She didn't answer.

"How's your foot?" Dan asked.

She looked down at it as if she'd only just realised that she was hurt. "It stings a bit I guess. But I barely feel it. Must be because of that blasted thing inside me. Whatever it may be."

Dan just nodded.

"It's funny you know," Anna said. She tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes, "Caius always said that there's a monster inside him, locked up in a cage. He said I was the one keeping it in check. But sometimes it would take the better of him," she sighed, "It seems like I have my own monster now. Only that I don't know how to keep it in check."

Dan's lips quirked into a half-hearted smile. She really did know the blond king in a different way.

Suddenly they heard the door to the tower opening and Dan turned his head.

"Here they come again. I'm sorry Anna. I wish I could help you. I really do."

"Well, I hope Nico knows that none of this will make it any better. Caius will only get worse if he kills me." Anna said fiercely before getting up to face her predators.

 **Sorry for the short chapter. The next one will be longer, I promise.  
Let me know what you think of the story so far.**

 **XX**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello my beautiful People  
I've had quite a productive evening today.** **What do you think of this chapter?  
Read & Review**

 **Love XX**

 **New Moon**

Anna woke as someone shook her shoulder. "Anna. You're dreaming again," Dan's whisper cut through the pictures her mind showed her before her inner eye.

She opened her eyes. Her face was wet from crying and her throat felt sore. She had been screaming again.

It had been 5 days now.

5 times the wolves had dragged her out of the cell and threw her into the pit to fight.

And 5 times she had killed the pup who had been assigned to fight her.

Every time it had gotten worse. By the fifth time not only her hands had been covered in blood but also her mouth. She had used her teeth to kill the beast.

And always when she had tried to sleep after a night in the pit her subconsciousness had showed her what she had done. The pictures haunted her. She saw them whenever she closed her eyes.

In the second night Dan had had pity with her. He had come into the cell and woke her up as he had every night from then on if he had been the one who had guarded her cell.

However, Anna was surprised to see him now. When she had fallen asleep this guy named Clyde had watched her through the iron bars.

But now it were Dan's brown eyes who looked down at her worriedly.

"Thanks," she croaked and tried to dry her face with her sleeve.

Normally Dan would tell her that it was fine and leave the cell again but not this time. When she sat up he still crouched next to her.

"Dan, what...?"

"Sssshhhhhh," he whispered insistently, "I don't have much time Anna so listen. Tonight they won't let you fight because it's a new moon."

"But..."

"Just listen. We call the moon our curse and because there's no moon tonight there's gonna be a huge celebration and they're all gonna get drunk. When they've all passed out I'm gonna let you out of here. You have to run through the main gate and then turn to the left and keep this direction. After a mile or so you will reach a village where you can ask for help but you have to keep running all the way there do you understand? Don't slow down and don't look back."

Anna nodded eagerly.

"I'll get you when it's time," Dan whispered. Then he got up and left the cell.

* * *

Anna waited in the darkness. Dan had left hours ago to attend the celebration of the new moon.

Apparently the wolves thought that there was no need to guard her during they were celebrating. She couldn't escape without being noticed anyway.

Finally she heard the door of the tower open and staggering steps approached. She saw the flickering light of the lantern and got up to greet Dan at the cell door.

But it wasn't Dan.

It was Nico.

He pulled out a key and unlocked the cell door and made a staggering step inside leaving the lantern at the ground in front of the cell.

Anna immediately backed off. This guy sent chills down her spine and the way he looked at her right now caused her guts to tighten up.

He was drunk. She could tell by the unstable way he walked and he babbled as he spoke.

"There's our precious vampire-girl," he said as he walked over to her. Anna retreated until her back hit the wall.

"You have caused me a lot of trouble, you know that sweetheart?" He didn't stop walking. "Just coming here and killing 5 of my most promising pups. I can't say I'm very fond of you, sweetie."

He finally stopped right in front of her.

"Stop calling me that!" Anna spat at him. It took all her strength to let her voice sound hard instead of shaky but somehow she managed.

Nico smirked at her. "Calling you what?" he asked innocently, "Sweetheart?"

Anna's hand collided with his face. The slapping sound echoed through the empty room.

Nico growled and pushed her hard into the wall bringing his body closer to hers. "You little bitch!" he hissed. His breath smelled of alcohol.

Then he seemed to calm down. "You've got some nerve, I must give you that. And you are fairly pretty. A bit too skinny maybe but I can definitely see what Caius sees in you," he marvelled while playing with the necklace Caius had given her.

He brought his face closer to hers and she struggled against his grip.

Suddenly he dove and tried to kiss her on the lips. Just in time Anna managed to turn her head and his lips pressed against her cheek instead.

She struggled even harder, tried to push him away but it was no use.

His hands travelled slowly down to her jeans.

"There's no need to act so coyly, sweetheart," he whispered into her ear, "After all, you do the same with your bloodsucker."

"No! Stop it! Stop it!" Anna screamed and struggled.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and Nico backed off letting her go. Behind him stood Dan with the lantern in his hand.

"Run Anna!" he said before facing Nico again who was getting back to his feet.

He didn't need the tell her twice. Anna run like she had never done before. Out of the cell, down the corridor and up the stairs.

Behind her she could hear Nico scream in fury. For a brief moment she worried about Dan and what Nico would do to him but she didn't stop. He had told her not to stop.

As she reached the upper step of the stairs and the door of the tower she could already hear heavy steps in the corridor below her. It had been a short fight.

She run over the inner bailey towards the main gate. Sprinkled around the bailey where the sleeping members of the pack. Some of them were still holding empty beer bottles.

They groaned when she accidentally stepped on their feet or hand but she couldn't care less if they woke up. All she focused on was to make it through the main gate before Nico made it out of the tower.

As she reached the gate she heard a noise behind her and instantly knew that he had burst out of the door.

She shot through the gate and turned left as Dan had told her and fled into the dark woods Nico on her heels.

The forest was pitch black which made it nearly impossible for Anna to see where she was running. Twigs and low branches hit her face and she raised her arms to protect it.

Her feet stumbled over the uneven forest floor.

She breathed heavily and her sides stung but she refused to stop.

Something hit her and knocked her to the ground. She had overlooked a three in the darkness and hit the side of the trunk.

Behind her she could already hear Nico's heavy steps. Desperately she scrambled to her feet but she wasn't fast enough.

Before she could run again Nico reached her, grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around hitting her across the face.

"You little brat! Wait until I'm done with you!" he roared at her.

Anna screamed and lashed about him. "Let me go!"

His grip tightened and she knew that he would break her every bone if he had to.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" he pressed her back into the nearest tree. "No way vampire lover!"

His grip tightened and she knew that he would break her every bone if he had to.

Fear shot through her veins. She had been scared before even by Caius but never like this. This was a different kind of fear and it threatened to break over her and consume her wholly.

Tears stung in her eyes as she desperately tried to get out of his grip.

And then suddenly Anna's limbs flagged. Something inside her took control of her. She felt the familiar whirling sensation in her head. Instantly she knew what would happen. But differently than before she didn't try to fight it.

This time she welcomed it.

* * *

Caius was racing through the dark forest at full speed. The Volturi guards and Alice, Emmett and Jasper close behind him.

He was close now. He could feel it, could almost smell her familiar scent.

Suddenly the noises of the forest were interrupted by someone's yelling. And then he heard _her_ scream.

"Let me go!"

Caius accelerated his speed. Whoever she was screaming at clearly scared her out and he had to reach her before he could hurt her.

A growl formed in his chest as he shot forward.

Someone screamed. He smelled blood.

But the scent wasn't familiar. It wasn't Anna's sweet and flowery blood. This one smelled foul and nasty. If he had been human he would have gagged on the smell of it.

 _"Werewolf blood"_

The smell became more prominent.

But as he broke through the last branches and reached the spot where the smell came from he couldn't believe what he saw.

The lycanthrope was lying on the ground. His legs were both twisted in impossible angles and he was covered in his own blood which flowed from different wounds on his upper body.

Crouched over him was Anna. Her hair was tousled, her clothes dirty and torn and her hands and her mouth were covered in fresh blood.

The man on the ground screamed in pain and fear and tried to push her away from him as she crouched over him, her teeth bared and snapping for his throat.

She got hold of one of his Hands, which tried to push her away, and twisted. With an ugly noise the bone broke. The man screamed blue murder and Anna dove for his throat.

In the blink of an eye Caius got hold of her and tore her away from the werewolf. She hissed and spat and struggled against him but he held her in a tight grip.

"Anna, love, come back to me. You are safe now. He won't hurt you anymore," he said to her soothingly before turning to face the guard and the members of the Cullen coven.

"Bring him back to Volterra. Make sure he stays alive. And go find the Romanian scum and bring them there too."

They nodded obediently and were gone within a second. Jasper and Alice dragged the bleeding and screaming man to his feet and left too.

It was just Caius and Anna now.

Upon hearing his voice Anna had stopped lashing but she was still hissing and snapping as he sank to the ground pulling her into his lap.

* * *

Darkness enveloped her. It was nothing like the dark she had faced running through the forest mere minutes ago. This was an entirely new experience. There was no noise and nothing around her. It was like floating.

Strangely she felt a peace because she knew whatever lived inside her would take care of her predator.

Then something cut through to her.

Words.

A voice.

Both kind, caring and soothing.

 _"Anna, love, come back to me. You are safe now. He won't hurt you anymore."_

Caius.

Anna moved through the blackness around her trying to get to Caius.

 _"I am here love. It is all right. You are safe. No one will ever hurt you again. Please come back to me."_

She came closer. His familiar scent hit her nose. Musky and something sweet she had never been able to define. It felt like coming home.

 _"Please come back Anna. Please."_

The black turned into a dark grey as she floated towards Caius' voice. She regained control over her body and noticed that she was hissing and snapping at him and forced her body to stop.

 _"I love you, Anna."_

She broke through the surface.

Caius was sitting on the forest floor with her in his lap. He had wrapped his black cloak around her body and was whispering soothing words into her ear.

She felt warm and safe with his arms around her. He would protect her no matter what.

Relief flooded her body as she realised that it now really was over.

And then she started crying into his chest.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **This is a rather short chapter.  
But the good news is I finally got a mini-notebook so from now on I can write on my way from and to work which means I'm probably gonna update a bit more from now on.  
Please tell me your opinions about the story!**

 **Love XX**

 **Coming Home**

Anna cried silently while Caius carried her home.

Teas continued to stream down her bloodied face like two tiny rivers. No matter what he said or how many times he tried to assure her that she's safe now and that it was over, she wouldn't stop.

Caius thought about all the bad things she must had had faced in the past days. About all the pain she had to had endure because she loved him.

He held himself responsible for all that had happened to her and he vowed that he would spend the rest of his life to try make it up to her.

* * *

Once they reached Volterra Caius left the guards and the Cullens alone and went straight to the chambers he and Anna shared.

He locked the door behind them and carried Anna to the bathroom where he put her carefully to her feet.

He didn't let go of her though. His arm was still wrapped around her waist to steady her. Only when he was sure she wouldn't fall without his support he let go of her.

Tenderly he started to wipe away the tears from her cheek. She had stopped crying now after all. She just stood there staring into space, her face blank of any expression.

Caius went over to the bathtub and started the water. Then he went back to Anna, lifted her up and sat her down on the counter.

Slowly he started to undress her, striping off her boots and helping her out of his black cloak and dirty and torn jumper she was wearing.

After he had took off the t-shirt she had been wearing beneath the jumper his eyes fell on the heart-shaped necklace he had given her.

She was still wearing it. The gold shone in the light of the bathroom.

Hesitantly he reached out and touched it with his cool fingertips.

 _Into Eternity_

He briefly wondered if she still wanted to spend eternity with him after everything that had happened.

Something warm touched his hand catching him off guard. He looked up. Anna's fingertips had touched his ever so slightly and her brown eyes were looking into his ruby ones for the first time since he had found her in the woods.

They were empty. Two brown holes starring at him. There was no sign that this girl had once been happy or light-hearted.

It made his heart crack.

"I am so sorry, my love," he whispered, "So so sorry.

Carefully he stripped off the rest of her clothes, carried her over to the bathtub, which was now filled with hot water, and placed her in it.

Then he started to wash the dirt and the blood off her body using a soft sponge.

He scrubbed her blood crusted hands and nails until the very last evidence of the red crust was gone.

Lastly he cleaned her face and her hair. She flinched every time he touched the scratch Vladimir had left on her temple.

The wound was red and angry-looking and Caius decided he would ask Carlisle for something to put on it later.

When he was done Anna looked all scratched and badly bruised but otherwise clean and more or less okay.

Except that she still hadn't said a word or shown any sign of acknowledgement that she was in safety.

Her lack of emotion and movement started to scare him.

Nonetheless he lifted her out of the water and wrapped her into a towel to dry her.

He left the bathroom for a second to get her some fresh underwear and an old shirt of his. When he came back she still stood where he had left her.

With her fragile body wrapped in the large towel and with her half-dried hair hanging over her face, as she once again starred into space, she looked as forlorn as he felt in this situation.

He wished he could wash away her pain and the dark memories as he had washed away the blood. But he couldn't.

So he went over and helped her to get dressed again.

After he had closed the last button of the shirt he looked up and realised that she had stopped starring into space and was now looking at him again her face blank.

Hesitantly he raised his hand and lightly brushed the back of it over her cheek.

Her lower lip trembled and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Instinctively Caius leaned in and brushed his lips over her soft skin, kissing the tear away like he had always done.

When he looked into her eyes again he saw the first emotion in them since he had found her.

Fear.

Puzzled he looked at her. Was she afraid of him? She had never been before. But then she had never been held captive by a revengeful vampire coven either.

Before he could ask her, however, her eyes were already overflowing with tears and she started to cry again.

Feeling lost in the situation and out of words Caius just pulled her in his arms, kissing the top of her head to comfort her.

To his surprise she wrapped her arms around his torso and held on to dear life.

For a while they just stood there in the bathroom, holding on to each other. Anna crying and occasionally sobbing into his chest and Caius whispering comforting words into her damp hair.

When she started to relax a bit he lifted her up once more and carried her to their bed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Say Something**

"Has she said anything yet?" Marcus asked.

He was sitting in Aro's study along with Carlisle, Caius and Aro himself. It had been a week since Caius and the guards had brought Anna back to Volterra.

Caius shook his head. "No. Nothing," he looked over to Carlisle, "She doesn't speak, she barely eats, sometimes I'm not even sure if she cares to be alive at all. I don't know what to do. What happened to her to become like this? What did they do to her?"

Carlisle's brows furrowed. "From a medical point of view I would say that she is highly traumatized. What exactly caused this condition, I cannot say. But whatever it was it has changed her profoundly."

"Then wouldn't it help her to talk about it?" Aro suggested.

"She won't talk," Caius sneered at him, "Which, in a nutshell, is the problem. I have no idea how to help her because I don't know what has happened back in Romania."

Aro leaned back in his chair. "Well, I could help you out on that, brother."

"You won't roam through her memories Aro!"

"Caius is right," Carlisle agreed, "Roaming through her thoughts would do more damage than good. She has to share her memories voluntarily."

"You could, however, read the thoughts of the werewolf and the Romanians. Whatever has happened I am sure they know about it just as well as Anna does." Marcus got up.

"Excellent idea brother," Aro beamed, "Let's go down to the dungeons. The sooner we know the better."

"Very well," Caius assented, "I will be in my chambers if you should need anything."

* * *

Anna was lying on the bed sleeping soundly as Caius entered. He closed the door quietly not wanting to wake her up. It had been days since she had slept so peacefully.

The last nights hadn't been very peaceful with her waking up every few hours crying and screaming. At first she had scared the hell out of Caius by screaming and lashing about and hardly calming down no matter what he said or did. Never had he felt so helpless in his 3'000 years. But by now he had gotten used to it.

He kneeled down next to the bed bringing his face on the same level as hers. The scratches on her face had started to heal already. However, there were still dark circles beneath her eyes and her cheeks were hollow.

Caius watched her sadly, "Say something," he whispered.

He missed the sound of her voice so badly. The ring of her laughter, like music. Her soft voice calming him down when he was angry.

"Please."

The corner of her mouth twitched and she moaned softly in her sleep

Footsteps approached and Caius got up to open the door before someone could knock and wake Anna up.

It was Aro along with Marcus.

"What did you see?" Caius asked after closing the door softly behind him.

Aro furrowed. "I am not sure," he admitted, "According to their memories they made Anna fight against the youngest of their pack to train them."

Caius eyes widened in horror and a growl formed in his chest.

"If their memories are true she... killed the wolves with her bare hands," Aro continued.

Caius anger turned into confusion within the blink of an eye. "But this is impossible," he whispered, "Anna is mortal. She wouldn't stand a chance against a child of the moon."

"True that," Aro agreed, "Although it would explain all the blood since it obviously wasn't her own."

"And what if it is her gift?" Marcus pondered. Aro's and Caius' eyes turned to him.

"Her gift? You mean immense strength like Felix or the Cullen boy?"

"It could be possible."

"I don't think so brother," Aro interrupted, "The girl I have seen in their thoughts seemed downright... inhuman. Nothing like the Anna we know."

"If you are suggesting that my mate is possessed by some kind of demon then..."

"It wasn't my intention to indicate any such thing Caius. However, it would be helpful to have a look at Anna's thoughts too."

"You will keep your distance from her," Caius snarled at his brother. He was determined to protect his mate in every possible way.

Of course he was as eager to know what had happened to her as his brothers were but this didn't mean he would let Aro intrude into her thoughts.

Somehow he still wished she would talk to him. He wanted to be the first to hear so he could help her.

"But Caius don't you see...?" Aro tried again but Caius cut him off.

"I said no, Aro! And this is final."

"There might be another way to find out whether it is a gift or not," Marcus said before his two brothers could get on each others throat.

"We could call Eleazar from the Denali coven in Alaska. He can see gifts. If Anna has one he can tell us."

His brothers heads turned once again to him. They both seemed fairly surprised about his idea.

But before any of them could say anything they were interrupted by the sound of Anna crying and tossing in her sleep.

"Get him here," Caius said shortly before disappearing into his chambers again to comfort his beloved.

* * *

Anna was torn from her nightmare by someone gently shaking her shoulder. For one unbearable second she thought it was Dan, that she still was in the humid stone cell somewhere in Romania and that in a few moments the men would come to bring her to the pit. To let her kill another pup.

Then she heard Caius' soft voice. "Shhh, it is all right love. You were just dreaming again. You're safe."

He was sitting next to her on the bed looking down at her worriedly. Relief flooded her. She was in her bed. She was safe. Until she got to sleep again.

Just the thought of it filled her with fear. More tears came and she started to sob until she was nearly chocking.

Desperate to get away from the fear she crawled into Caius arms and cried into his chest.

He held her in a tight embrace, stroking her hair with one hand, doing his best to comfort her. He was her safe haven. The only place she wanted to be was in his arms. It was the only place where her memories didn't haunt her. Where she felt at peace.

She knew he was still waiting for her to say something. To tell him what her nightmares were about. To tell him what had happened in the past days before he had found her.

But she couldn't. She had always been his sweet girl. Kind and loving and caring. If she told him what she had done, what kind of monster she had become he would be disgusted.

She was disgusted by it herself.

In her dreams she was still covered in the blood of the wolves she had killed. She still saw... No, she couldn't tell him. Not ever!

Someone knocked on the door. It was Jane. Her angelic little face looked equally as concerned as Caius' when she peered into the room and saw Anna.

"What?" Caius hissed softly. He had been very careful to contain his temper around her as if not to scare her even more.

"He is here, Master. He... he would like to see her."

"We will be there shortly," Caius told her. Jane bowed her head in respect and left.

"There is someone who would like to meet you, love. His name is Eleazar. He is an old friend of Aro's and," he hesitated choosing his words carefully, "we think he might be able to help to keep the nightmares away. Only if you are ready, of course."

Anna didn't seem too eager to meet someone she didn't know in her current state but when he mentioned her nightmares she listened up. Then she slowly nodded.

* * *

The throne room was almost empty when they entered. Aro, Marcus and Carlisle were standing with a man and a woman Anna had never seen before. Different then other times the guards were gone.

Aro had sent them away to give Anna a feeling of privacy.

All heads turned towards her and Caius upon entering.

When they saw Anna none of them could help but feel pity for the skinny girl. Even after a week she still looked forlorn and broken. Her cheeks were hollow and her eyes red and swollen from crying.

Caius stepped next to her and gave her hand a little squeeze as if to signalise that she wasn't alone.

"Anna, this are Eleazar and his mate Carmen," Caius introduced them in a soft voice.

None of them had ever heard him speaking to anyone like this. And certainly not to a human. He seemed so different around her. Very caring. Nothing like the Caius Eleazar remembered.

Carmen smiled warmly at Anna. "Hello dear. It is so nice to meet you at last."

Anna didn't answer but just stared back at Carmen her gaze empty.

Carmen's smile fell and her expression changed to concern. Carlisle murmured something too low and fast for Anna's mortal hearing and Carmen's expression relaxed the tiniest bit.

"So?" Caius said to Eleazar who hadn't said anything so far but just had looked Anna up and down.

"Oh she has a gift, all right," he said in an even tone and his brows furrowed, "However, it's nothing I have ever encountered before. It seems to be some kind of self preservation. You may call it a shield but it is far more dangerous than that.

It's very well hidden inside herself yet it is quite strong for a human. Only coming to surface in case of absolute need.

It is like," he hesitated and looked at Anna. Her body had started to tremble slightly, "I apologize for my choice of words, like a beast inside her that comes to surface to protect her."

He looked over at Aro, "They made her to fight werewolves, you said?"

Aro nodded and Eleazar's eyes returned to Anna who was now trembling almost uncontrollably. She had pressed one hand over her mouth and slung the other around her torso as if to keep herself from falling apart. Tears glistened in her eyes.

"You killed them, didn't you?" Eleazar said in a softer voice. Anna nodded hysterically.

"And I could very well imagine that you have no memory about it. But when you go to sleep your subconsciousness shows you what you have done, doesn't it? You are forced to re-live it over and over again."

Tears flowed over Anna's cheeks and she started to sob through her fingers her whole body shaking madly.

"Enough!" Caius wrapped his arms around her and shot a deadly glare at Eleazar who immediately fell silent.

"So that is what happened," Aro whispered.

Then no one said anything for some time. They were all too shocked by what Eleazar had just told them and by Anna's reaction to it. So it had been true what Aro had seen in the memories of the Romanians.

"Poor girl," Marcus murmured sympathetically.

Slowly Anna's sobs started to fade away and she just cried silently her face still buried in Caius chest who held her tenderly in his arms.

Besides the shock he felt somewhat relieved that he finally knew what she had had to endure while she had been gone. It would be easier now. Or so he hoped.

The sound of an opening door made them turn around. On the doorstep stood a boy with tousled black hair, about 17 years old, wearing dirty and slightly torn clothes. He smelled of dirt, forest and wet dog.

The vampires in the room instantly moved their bodies so they were shielding Anna and Caius from him and Caius growled lowly.

Jane appeared behind the boy. "I am sorry Masters. He just walked past me," she apologized.

"Who are you?" Aro asked calmly.

The boys expression remained blank but his posture gave away how uncomfortable he felt in the presence of his enemies.

"Where's Anna?" he asked, "I want to talk to her."

Anna's trembling stopped immediately upon hearing his voice and she went rigid in Caius arms.

"You would do good in answering my question, boy. Certainly I don't have to tell you that you are not very welcome here," Aro said with a slight threat in his voice.

"I'm Dan. From the Romanian pack. Now, where's Anna? I need to talk to her."

Caius growled and moved swiftly from Anna's side and around the vampires who were still blocking Dan's view of Anna to face slim boy.

Dan seemed downright shocked to come face to face with the man everyone in his pack had feared and loathed.

He was exactly like he had imagined him. Tall, blond hair and eyes blazing with anger. Dan's heart rate speeded up and his muscles tensed. His senses told him to run. That it had been a mistake to come here in the first place.

He tried to convince himself that if Caius attacked him he would be able to defence himself but he knew he wasn't. The Volturi king would snap his neck like a twig.

"You won't get near her, mutt. How dare you to show up here after all you have done to her?" Caius spat at Dan and grabbed his throat, "I should kill you right on the spot for..."

"Caius, don't!"

Her voice was rough and huskily from crying but it was undoubtedly her voice. Clear, strong like a little bell. Just as Caius had remembered it.

The mere sound of it made him stop dead in his tracks. He let go of Dan's throat and turned into the direction the voice had come from.

Anna had pushed past Eleazar and Marcus, who had been standing right in front of her, and was looking at him and Dan. Her eyes were still red and her cheeks wet but she seemed sure of what she was doing.

"I want to hear him out."

 **Any ideas what Dan will tell her?  
Review =)**

 **Love X**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Anger**

Anna was sitting on the marble steps in front of the wooden thrones surrounded by the Volturi kings, Carlisle, Eleazar and his mate Carmen. Dan was standing right in front of her.

Everyone was looking at Anna, who had just spoken her first words in more than a week, while Anna herself was starring at the ground in front of her.

Her forearms rested on her thighs and her hands were folded into each other.

No one spoke. You could have heard a needle drop. It was eerie.

The Volturi brothers, especially Caius, seemed on an edge due to the fact that a werewolf was standing amongst them. One of the pack which had Anna held captured and tortured in the past weeks no less.

Caius didn't like how close the boy was standing to his mate and he wished he could be next to her. However, Anna didn't seem to mind. As for right now she seemed to be far away, lost in her thoughts.

In the meantime Dan himself was extremely tense. He felt more than uncomfortable standing in front of his enemies. Even more so with his back turned to them. It took all his self discipline not to run.

He had put much thought into the pros and cons of coming here but in the end he had decided that his need to help Anna was bigger than his fear of the vampires and her mate Caius in particular.

If only she would say something already. The silence almost made him loose his nerves.

Finally Anna raised her head and looked at Dan expectantly. "Well?" she asked.

A surprised "Oh," slipped his mouth. He hadn't realised that she was waiting for him to speak.

 _"Stupid, stupid, stupid,"_ he thought to himself. He felt the looks of several vampires like needles in his back and hoped desperately he wouldn't turn red as a tomato. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"I know how you're feeling," he started and Anna snorted in disbelieve.

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, no, not really. But I didn't know how to start." he admitted grimacing, "It... I mean... " he puffed his cheeks and blew out the air, "Okay, listen Anna, I don't have the faintest idea how you must feel right now but I have a pretty good idea what you are thinking."

Anna's eyes fell back to the ground but she said nothing so he continued his voice growing steadier and softer.

"You think it was your fault that those pups died but that's not true."

"Yes it is. It's my fault. I've killed them and you know that. You were there," her voice was laced with self-loath.

"But you weren't yourself."

Anna sprang to her feet. Tears of anger glistened in her eyes.

This was it. She had bottled up her feelings and her fear for so long. Too long.

She forgot who was listening. Forgot that she didn't want them to know. Didn't want Caius to know.

All she saw was Dan in front of her who wasn't understanding her the least bit. He had no idea how she felt. What was going on inside her.

And yet he claimed to do so.

Maybe it was just the lack of sleep but anger welled up inside her.

The tears flowed down her cheeks. All her emotions which she carefully had locked away had turned into anger.

She was angry at herself for being weak and fearful.

Angry at Dan who didn't understand her.

Angry at Cara who had betrayed her.

Angry at everyone and everything.

"I know I wasn't myself! What the hell do you think is bothering me so much? I've ripped their throats open and tore their hearts out like an animal without even knowing what I was doing!" she yelled at him, "I've turned into a monster, Dan! And I it could happen again anytime because I don't know how to control it!"

"I'm a time bomb, Dan," she continued, "I'm a bloody time bomb and when I'm gonna blow up I turn into a monster that destroys everything and everyone."

"That you weren't yourself isn't the point Anna," Dan argued trying to stay calm, "I can't help you with that. But I want you to know that it wasn't your fault that they died. They knew what you would be like in the pit and they still wanted to fight you."

Anna stood still in front of him her arms crossed before her chest. Her features relaxed a bit and she seemed to calm down. He went on.

"They were betting who would be the one to take you down. They knew that if they conquered you they would either win or die and it didn't stop them. Believe me Anna, it wasn't your fault."

He placed his hands on both sides of her arms which she still held crossed in front of her chest and looked at her through strays of his black hair.

"Okay?"

Tears were still streaming down her cheeks and her lips were pressed into a tight line but she nodded.

Dan's lips quirked into a little smirk. "Vampire-girl."

A grin broke through the tears and to everyone's surprise Anna pulled the boy into an embrace.

"Thank you," she mumbled against his shoulder, "I wouldn't have made it without you. Thank you."

He hugged her back "Take good care of yourself, yeh?"

An ever so slight snarl sounded behind them. Anna opened her eyes and saw 6 pairs of ruby red ones starring back at her.

All of a sudden it came to her attention that they just had witnessed the whole conversation between Dan and her.

Her eyes met Caius'. His jaw was set and he looked strained. Seeing her so close to his arch-enemy without protection apparently set him on an edge.

It probably took him a lot not to step forward and tear Dan away from her.

But uneasiness wasn't the only emotion she could see on his face. As she searched his eyes she could see that beneath his usual mask he hid sorrow and pain.

He was worried about her. And he cared. Of course he did.

Suddenly Anna felt the need to talk. To really talk. To tell him everything that went on inside of her. How she had felt this last days.

How could she have been so naive? Caius loved her with all his heart. He had seen so much in his existence. How could she have thought that she would scare him away with what had happened?

She felt the necklace with the heart he had given her pressed into her skin. Coolness against warmth.

 _"Into Eternity"_ she thought smiling.

Yes, he would understand.

Feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders she let him go of Dan, "Will you be okay?"

Dan shrugged. "I guess," he said, "It might be good to live a normal life for some time. As normal as it gets." he added and Anna gave him a small grin.

"Normal is overrated."

 **Hey Folks  
I'm sorry for updating so late. I had some busy days and also I wasn't quite happy with this chapter so I had to re-write it a couple times.  
I hope the next one's not gonna take so long. **

**Love X**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Talk Things Out**

Anna was sitting on the grass beneath a widow her back propped up against the stone wall which encircled the gardens of the Volturi castle.

The sun was shining through the hanging branches of the widow drawing spots of light on her body and the wall behind her.

She had found this well hidden corner in the large gardens a long time ago. Back when she had just come to Volterra and Caius had hated her.

It had been her little piece of heaven where she used to come and read and just forget the world beyond this place.

Everything was so quiet here, so peaceful.

"I knew I would find you here," a familiar voice said.

Anna raised her gaze. Her eyes met Caius' who had quietly made his way through the branches and was now looking down at her.

He was wearing black jeans and his usual black shirt, the sleeves turned up and the top buttons open.

His blond hair was slightly tousled like he had been running his hand through it over and over again.

He stood there for a few seconds with Anna looking up at him until it got obvious that she wouldn't get up.

He smiled a crooked smile and walked over to sit down next to her. Then he turned his head to the side to look at her face.

Ann kept looking at the branches in front of her which were floating in a light breeze.

"You thought I would be disgusted by what you did." It was a statement not a question.

"Yes," she nodded slightly her voice shaking.

"You thought you would scare me away."

"Yes."

Her voice had diminished into a hoarse whisper. She still refused to look at him and it hurt. Never would he have thought that someone could hold so much power over him but she did. Probably she didn't even know she did.

Caius brows furrowed. "Anna," he whispered pleading.

The sound of his voice made her turn her head at last. As soon as she had faced him he cupped her cheek with one hand, leaned in and captured her lips in a soft kiss.

"Oh Anna," he said softly after pulling away again, "You could never scare me away, love. Do you have the faintest idea what kind of horrible things I have done in my existence? Nothing you will ever do could scare me away."

Now it was Anna's turn to frown. "I know what you did. But that's... that's what makes you you, I guess. But I've never been like this. I don't know how to handle it and it scares me. What if we get in an argument and I turn into... that _thing_?"

He thought about that for a second before answering with a little grin. "Well, in that case I just hope you aren't going to set me on fire so someone can put me back together afterwards."

Anna nudged his side with her elbow. "Be serious."

He laughed hoarsely. "I am serious."

"Yeah, right," she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Truth to be spoken, I don't know how to handle it either. I believe you will have to figure this out by yourself. But whatever you decide to do I will always be there for you, my love."

He planted a kiss on her hair and she grinned.

"Caius Volturi being at a loss. This must be a first."

"I hope you do realise that you're the only person who can say this to me without me tearing her head off?"

"Oh please, you're just scared I would tear off your head before you can as much as touch me," she countered.

Caius laughed out loud. His whole body shook with laughter as he pulled her in his lap.

"Careful there. Laughing like that could ruin your reputation of the scowling vampire king," Anna went on starting to laugh herself.

Caius leaned in and started to kiss her.

"I've got my girl back after all," he said between the kisses, "I missed your smile."

For a while they just sat there, kissing, Caius leaning his back against the wall and Anna sitting comfortably in his lap.

His lips travelled from her mouth over her cheek and up to her temple.

Anna smiled dreamily and let her thoughts travel while she enjoyed the sensation of his cold lips against her skin.

Funnily enough her mind settled on Cara after a few seconds. She bit her lip. "They are in the dungeons, aren't they? The Romanians I mean."

Caius froze in his movements. He hesitated for a split second before he answered. "Yes."

"And Cara too?"

"Yes," suddenly he sounded warily.

Anna fell silent for a few minutes. She was thinking. Caius could almost see her thoughts spinning.

At last she said, "You have to let her go."

"No." Caius said without a second thought.

"Caius, she already hates me. I don't want to make it worse. She has to move on. Get away from here. From me. Please let her go."

"No."

"Why not?" she looked up and met Caius ruby red eyes. His gaze was fierce and determined but when he spoke it softened up.

"Anna, love, she was free. She had the time to move on and get away from you. Instead she used her freedom to plan her revenge. She took you away from me and I almost lost you. Who knows if you survive another attempt.

I can't risk this. I can't risk to lose you forever, love. I couldn't bear it."

"Caius..." Anna started exasperated but Caius cut her off.

"No, Anna. Please try to understand me. If I would lose you, I would lose the only good thing I ever had in my entire existence. I would become like Marcus or even worse," he caressed her cheek as he spoke, "I know that Cara is your best friend, my darling, and that you want her safe. All I can promise you is that no one will harm her in any way. But I won't let her go. I am sorry."

He was sorry. Anna could see it in his eyes. She exhaled softly and thought about his words. She hated to admit it but he did have a point. She got away this time.

Next time she might not be so lucky. Besides, would their parts be reversed and she would be in his place she would do the same.

"Can I see her?" she asked after a moment of silence.

Again Caius hesitated. "The dungeons aren't exactly a place I want you to..."

Anna snorted "Caius I bet I've seen things far worse than the dungeons. Besides I don't really need your permission. You know I will talk to her anyway."

Caius sighed and leaned his head back. "Yes, I know. All right, I will show you the way," he attempted to get up.

"No, not right now," Anna said alarmed, "Can't we just sit here for a little longer?"

The blond vampire leaned his back against the wall again and relaxed. A smile playing on his lips.

"Of course we can, darling," he murmured into her ear and started to trail small kisses over her cheek and up to her temple.

The girl closed her eyes and enjoyed the affection Caius showed her.

To be honest she was in no hurry at all to visit the dungeons.

Left alone Cara.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Finally another chapter! Sorry for taking so long. I didn't know where to start and how to go on with this.  
I hope you like it =)**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **Love X**

 **Broken Pieces**

Anna had never been to the dungeons before. Caius had always asked her not to go there. Whether it was because it was too dangerous or because it was the one place where the beast inside him got the better of him, she could only fathom.

Her shoes made a muffled sound with every step she took. The lantern she held painted eerie shadows on the walls.

It's light jittered as a cold breeze met her halfway down the staircase that lead to the lowest level of the castle. She shivered but she wasn't entirely sure it was just because of the cold.

A thousand thoughts run through her mind as she descended the stairs leaving her nervous and with a twisted feeling in her stomach.

She hadn't seen Cara since that day she had locked her in the cell back in Romania. To be honest she had tried to adjourn meeting her as long as possible but now she couldn't wait anymore.

For one she wanted answers and aside from that there had been a first verdict about what was to happen with the Romanian coven.

Stefan and Vladimir would face a trial soon. Cara, however, would meet another fate. And Anna wanted to tell her personally.

How would she be now?

Would she still be angry? Full of hatred? Or would the time in the dungeons calmed her down?

Anna hoped for the later. It would be helpful in convincing Caius to let her go later on.

Although he had made his point quite clear, she hadn't given up hope. Maybe time would heal the wounds.

The end of the staircase came faster the Anna had anticipated and suddenly she stood at the upper end of a dark corridor.

It was freezing down here. She must be at least a mile beneath the castle.

Breathing in deeply, in an attempt to calm her nerves, she made the first step into the corridor.

Darkness met her making it hard to see anything. The lantern she was carrying wasn't strong enough to illuminate the whole corridor.

She raised it a little to see her surroundings.

On each side there were oaken doors, all of them closed.

There were little windows with iron bars, just high enough to have a look into the cell behind each door.

As Anna walked down the corridor she suddenly felt the urge to go to the loo, as always when she was in a place that gave her the chills.

 _"Get a grip on you, Anna. Nothing can happen to you. As if Caius isn't waiting at the top of the stairs ready to take down whatever attacks you."_

He had offered to come with her but she had declined. She had to do this alone.

Her feet came to a halt when she reached the place he had described to her. The 13th door on the left.

Her hand which was holding the lantern rose even higher and she peeked through the window in the door. Once more she wished she would have brought a flashlight instead of that bloody lantern.

She could barely make out the room behind the door. After a moment though her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could see that in fact there wasn't much to see at all.

The stone cell was pretty much empty and reminded her of her own prison from a few weeks ago in the worst way.

"I was wondering when you would come to see me." a voice said to her right and Anna jumped and took a step back.

Cara's pale face appeared in the square window. It was smeared with dirt as was her blond hair. Her eyes were black with thirst.

In the flickering light of the lantern she looked like a ghost.

Anna opened her mouth to say something but nothing would come out. Now, that she was here she didn't know where to start.

This was the girl who had caused her all this pain in the past days. Because of her hatred she would be scared forever.

But then again this was also the girl who had been with her in her in almost all the important events in her life. She had been her best friend. Always by her side. Always having her back.

She had trusted her blindly.

Once...

"How are you, Cara?" she finally whispered and Cara laughed without humour.

"How I am? You must be kidding Annie. You had me locked up in this freaking cell! How do you think I am?"

The accusing sound in her voice made Anna snap out of her pity.

"Well, I'd say karma's a bitch, isn't it? Be glad you don't have to go out and kill someone every night because that's what you did to me."

"You have no idea what I would give to go out on a hunt right now. They might not touch me because they think I'm your best friend but they don't let me feed either. You know how this feels, Annie? It's like a thousand burning knives cutting my throat with every word I say. With every breath I take.

After a while you would think that there's nothing left to hurt but they always find a spot. They - he is causing me even more pain this way than he could in any other. And it's all your fault! Believe me, if it wasn't for this door I would have ripped your throat out by now." her eyes glistened pitch black, her voice nothing but a sharp whisper, every word striking Anna like a whip.

The girl stared at Cara. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. This girl in front of her, the girl she had known for over half of her life, had just threatened to kill her.

A picture appeared before her inner eye.

 _Anna and Cara were both about 8 years old. They were sitting on the sidewalk in front of Cara's parent's house. Anna's trousers were torn and there was a big scrape on her knee, which was bleeding._

 _Anna's face was wet with tears while Cara had slung her little arms around her shoulders trying to comfort her._

 _"You shouldn't have kicked him for that," little Anna said, her voice hoarse._

 _"He threw you off the skateboard and you hurt your knee. It's only fair." Cara defended herself._

 _"You're my best friend Annie. And I'll protect you. No matter what."_

 _"No matter what?"_

 _"No matter what."_

 _"Pinky promise?" Anna offered her little finger to her._

 _Without hesitating Cara hooked her own little finger into Anna's. "Pinky promise. And I swear I'm never gonna hurt you. Because you're like my sister, Annie."_

The image vanished and left Anna with the grown-up version of Cara, who still scowled at her.

"You promised," she whispered.

"What?"

"You promised never to hurt me. All those years ago. We're friends Cara. It shouldn't be like this. When did everything go so wrong?"

Anna felt like crying but she kept her facial expression under control. She didn't want Cara to see how much she had already hurt her.

"We're no friends," Cara hissed, "Not any more. I left this part of my life behind me long ago."

"You throw all this away because of some guy? What about what we had? Our memories? The things we've been through? Die you _leave_ that behind you too?" Anna's voice rose with anger.

"As if you didn't do the same for your mate!" Cara spat while kicking against the cell door. The sound of it echoed through the dungeons.

"I didn't, if you must know! I haven't given up my whole life for Caius! I haven't abandoned everyone I knew. My friends!"

"Haven't you listened? We're no friends anymore! Our friendship died the day you fell in love with that bastard!"

"So what? Do you really think they don't torture you just like that? Because they think you're my friend? They don't touch you because I asked them not to! We might not be friends any more but I still freaking care for you Cara!"

Silence.

Cara's black eyes glistened. With thirst or sadness, Anna couldn't tell. But since she didn't respond she continued.

"They won't kill you. But they won't let you go either. You will stay down here for the rest of eternity. No one will hurt you. That's the best I can do for you. I hope you're happy."

The sound in her voice signalised that the conversation was over. That there was nothing left to be said.

Anna took a step back. Readying herself to leave and not looking back.

"Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because I keep the promises I make. Good bye Cara."

And with that she turned around and walked back to the staircase, still holding back her tears, knowing that Cara would know if she cried now but also knowing that at the top of the stairs Caius would be waiting for her.

That he would cradle her in his arms and hold her while she would break down and ruin his shirt with her tears.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello my beautiful people**  
 **I am so so sorry for not posting in so long.**  
 **Sadly I've had a writer's block and I just needed some time away to get over it.**  
 **I've been to Italy and I've almost made it to Volterra (but in the end it didn't work out =( ) and now I'm back full of new ideas!"**  
 **Please let me know your thoughts about this new chapter =)**  
 **Love always XX**

 **Friends**

Anna was sitting on one of the window sills in Caius' study. Caius had asked her to come with him in case she decided to spontaneously break into tears like she had done right after she had talked to Cara and during most of the last night.

Of course he hadn't said it like that but Anna knew that this was the true reason. He wanted to be close to her to comfort her if necessary. She knew that he was scared she would drift back into the state of indifference in which she had been after he had brought her back from Romania.

To tell the truth she was scared to drift back herself.

She wanted to stay. Wanted her consciousness to stay and focus on the presence. She wanted to feel again.

To feel the warm sensation of safeness she felt when Caius held her in his arms.

Feel the comfort he brought her by whispering to her that everything would be all right.

And the butterflies she still felt going crazy in her stomach when he kissed her in a way so soft and tender you wouldn't put it past him considering his reputation as the most cruel and ruthless of the Volturi.

But on the other hand, after her conversation with Cara she also longed for the numbness the indifference had given her.

Cara's words had cut deep into her and she didn't think she would ever forget them. Even if she got to live forever those scars would now always be a part of her. And they hurt.

They hurt so much she wanted nothing more than shut down and feel nothing at all.

All in all she felt torn. Torn between wanting to feel all the things that made her happy and not wanting to feel because the pain was too much to bear.

The whole of this emotional mess that went on inside her confused her a great deal which was the reason for her tears and - in conclusion - Caius' worry.

And so she was here now, in a huge room stuffed with old books, maps and an old chess board on a table near the fire place - where she once had desperately tried to beat Caius in a game of strategies and honour, looking out the window, feeling sad, confused and just in general not very good.

Halfway through the afternoon Alec had knocked on the door and announced that Caius presence was requested in the throne room. Which had left her alone with the thunderstorm of emotions inside her on top of all.

She sighed.

It was like she was missing something but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She just knew that she longed for it and not having it made her even more sad than she already was.

The door opened and Anna turned her head to see who it was, half hoping that it was Caius. She felt like crying again.

It was Kristina though.

"Oh, it's you." Anna said, giving away more of her disappointment then she had intended.

"No no, don't hug and kiss me, please, I know that you love me." Kris raised her hands in surrender.

Although this would once had made her laugh, Anna couldn't bring herself to even crack a small smile.

Kris dropped her hands again and looked at her sympathetically. "That was a joke. I'm joking."

"I know, Kris. I'm sorry, I just don't feel like it."

Kris walked over, kneeled down beside her and took her hand in hers, placing the other one on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong Annie?"

"I just don't feel so good."

Kristina huffed in disbelieve. "Stop lying to me Annie. I can see that it is more than that. Don't shut me out. Please tell me. I can't fix it if you don't tell me."

Anna looked down into Kris' big blue eyes full of worry and sympathy and suddenly it all burst out of her.

"I don't know Krissie. I don't know what's wrong with me. I want to be happy but there is so much pain and sadness and I just don't know what to do about it. It's just so confusing. I don't want to feel anything anymore but then Caius is so caring and he makes me feel better and I don't want to put him through that again.

But all the things Cara said... and I... It hurts... and something is missing... I don't know..."

The tears started to fall faster and she choked on her last words.

Kristina got up and sat herself on the very edge of the windowsill next to Anna and pulled her into an embrace.

For a while they just sat there, Anna crying into her friends shoulder.

Then when she finally calmed down a bit Kristina gave her a short squeeze and then let go of her.

"Come on. Let's get out of here. You need some fresh air."

* * *

They were sitting on the grass beneath the willow in Anna's secret place in the gardens. The sun was shining through the branches.

Anna had just told Kristina the whole story about how she had really met Caius, how she had been abducted and about Cara. She had told her everything about Cara.

After she had finished Kris had put her arm around her shoulder and neither of them had said anything for a while.

"I-I.. I am very sorry about what happened with Cara. I really am. But sometimes... well, you know... there are people in our lives who have been there for what feels like forever, you know, and we think that they are permanent ink but... they are not.

And sometimes friendships will end out of nowhere. Not because you lied to them or anything just simply because that's how life is.

People change and they might even leave but life doesn't stop for anybody. We have to move on.

But even if it feels like the end of the world it really isn't. And at some point we will find someone who will make us feel better again. They will show us new places and together we will make new memories and we will be glad to have them in your lives.

Just like I am to have someone like you in my life. Someone who dragged me in all those incredible and weird and a bit scary things.

That's how life is. It's a bit strange at times and it can hurt. But you have to remind yourself that no matter what, you'll never have to go through it all alone.

Never ever. I will always be there for you to walk beside you."

Kris smiled encouragingly at her.

At first Anna said nothing. Her face was red and wet from crying. Kris had still her arm put around her shoulder while Anna just stared into the void and kept still.

Then finally she looked up and turned her face towards Kristina.

To her surprise she cracked a smile.

"You know, sometimes I forget how smart you are."

"Yeah, I'm a fucking genius."

Anna pulled her friend into an embrace. "I love you Krissie. I love you so much."

And as she felt Kristina hugging her back her words still rang in Anna's head. And suddenly she knew that this was it. This was what she had been missing.

This sensation of sympathy and warmth only friendship could give you. This feeling of comfort and unlimited trust.

Not that she didn't trust Caius of course. But there simply were a few things that she only could tell a good friend.

Kristina had filled that empty spot she had felt inside her by being just that. A good friend.

Anna smiled into the embrace and hugged Kris a little tighter.

"Thank you." she whispered barely audible.

At last Anna let go of Kris and looked at her. "You know, I've been a terrible friend lately. How are you feeling? How is it you come here anyway? I've heard Jane saying something about you and Demitri. What's going on between the two of you? What have I missed?"

Kristina laughed cheerily and started to talk a blue streak about Demitri.

"And you know, he's just so sweet and so old school. You know how much I love that. And..."

They were interrupted by fast footsteps approaching. Someone hurried over the grass towards them.

As they turned their heads to see who it was they saw Corin coming towards them, and she seemed quite distressed.

"Anna! You are needed in the throne room. You have to come with me right now!"


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello my beautiful People** **  
Finally this chapter is finished. It took me some time but I am really happy with it.  
I hope you all like it too.  
Read & Review  
**

 **Love** **XX**

 **Fire**

Corin ushered Anna to the throne room, Kristina at their heels.

"Corin what happened? Why am I needed in there?"

"You have to see for yourself."

"Can't you just tell me..."

"No!" Corin cut her off midsentence, "Now get in there."

Worry started to grow in the pit of her stomach as she stepped through the door which Corin held open and into the narrow corridor behind it.

Something terrible must had happened. Never before had she seen Corin so upset.

"You can't go in there. It's not allowed."

Anna turned around and saw Corin blocking Kristina's way with her tall body. The sound of her voice clearly suggested that she wasn't very fond of Kristina being here in the first place.

This irritated Anna a bit. If she was allowed to go in then why wouldn't Kris be. She was just as mortal as she was herself.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Corin." she said, moved her arm around the slender female vampire, grabbed Kris' wrist and pulled her past Corin.

"B-but... she is a mortal. And Master Caius said..." she stuttered and flitted past them to block their way once more.

"So am I and I can very well imagine just what Caius said about mortals and having them around. But I am his mate and I say different and if he isn't okay with that he can discuss this matter with me."

Anna kept moving past Corin, who looked like that one time when she had accidentally witnessed a fight between Anna and Caius - a look of utter disbelief and horror, all the while dragging Kristina behind her who couldn't help the urge to stick out her tongue to Corin as they passed.

They went down the small corridor until they reached another door. Anna carefully pushed it open and stepped through, followed by Kristina and Corin.

Corin was the last one to enter and closed the door behind them. They were standing in a small room with a sunlit window on one side and an archway on the other.

Through said archway Anna could make out the back of three wooden chairs, which told her that the room they were standing in was right behind the thrones in the throne room.

She motioned for Kris and Corin to wait there and walked up to the chairs.

From what she could see only Marcus was sitting in his throne. The other two were abandoned.

As she stepped through the archway and walked through the narrow aisle between Aro's and Caius' throne she stopped dead in her tracks.

Aro was standing a few feet away from her, down the steps. He turned as he heard her entering the room and flashed his usual, slightly creepy, smile at her.

"Ah, Anna. There you are."

Caius was standing down there too, although a little more to the right. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, his jaw clenched and a deep scowl on his face.

Anna knew this expression of his. He was clearly bristling with anger but he tried to control it as best as he could.

Upon her entering he relaxed a tiny little bit and he tore his glare from the people in front of him to look at her.

She gave him a questioning look. Then her eyes went to the people her mate had been glaring at.

It didn't take her long to recognize them although now they were smudged with dirt and their eyes were pitch black.

Vladimir and Stefan were standing in the middle of the room surrounded by members of the higher guard who held their arms in their tight grip to keep them in place.

Both of them were staring back at her. Two pairs of black eyes, glistening with thirst and... anticipation?

A smug grin appeared on Vladimir's face. "Sweetheart. So nice of you to join us."

Every word of him seemed to drip with smugness.

Caius growled ferociously and the guards holding Vladimir tightened their grip causing him to hiss in pain.

"What's going on here?" Anna asked, "Why do I have to be here?"

"You are their last wish." Aro explained.

This caught her off guard. She had expected anything. But not this. "Excuse me?"

She looked at the two prisoners in utter disbelieve. "You don't even know me. Why should I be your last wish?"

* * *

A quiet click sounded through the small room and a flame flickered in the absolute darkness for a few seconds before disappearing with another click.

This was it.

* * *

Vladimir's grin grew. "Oh, you are by no mean our last wish, sweetheart."

In the blink of an eye Caius had Vladimir by his throat. "If you ever call her that or anything other than her name again I will rip you to shreds, you filthy disgrace of a vampire," he spat at the Romanian before letting him go and returning to his place at Anna's side.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anna asked as if nothing had happened.

"You are not our last wish," Stefan said in Vladimir's place, "You are hers."

"Hers..?"

"Cara's" Stefan hissed.

* * *

Another click, another flame in the darkness.

She held it closer to her face.

So small.

So hot.

The damage it could do.

And the revelation it could bring.

She let the lighter snap back.

Then snapped it open again marvelling at the flame.

The time was almost here.

* * *

"Cara's?" Anna couldn't help but stare puzzled at the both vampires in front of her.

"Indeed." Stefan said. "You and us submitting the following words: 'Some women fear the fire. Some women simply become it.'"

For the fraction of a second stood there in total shock as the words slowly sunk in. It was like someone had slowed down the world. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Her blood thudded in her ears.

She could hear Caius saying her name but it sounded very, very far away.

Did he tell her something? Had he asked her a question? She couldn't tell.

Her eyes were glued on Vladimir who hadn't said a word since Caius had threatened him. Now a devilish smile spread over his face.

A smile of pure evil. He knew what the words had triggered in her. And he enjoyed it.

And then she broke free. Before anyone in the room could react she turned on her heel and started running like the devil himself was after her.

Past the thrones. Past Kristina and Corin. Back through the corridor and the door she had come from.

She turned right and left twice without slowing down a single time.

While she ran Stefan's words echoed in her head. The quote. Cara's quote.

She had found it in the library while scrolling through books in order to find some inspiration for an essay they had had to write for their English course.

Being Cara having a hang for inspirational quotes and over dramatic scenes she had taken the quote and written her essay about a woman who set herself on fire for a man she loved.

Back then it had just been the idea of a creative, and perhaps slightly strange, mind.

But now...

Anna reached the staircase to the dungeons and had to slow down a bit so she wouldn't stumble over her feet and fall all the way down.

Upon reaching the end of the stairs she was greeted by the darkness and the cold of the dungeons.

She stumbled on into the pitch black void in front of her.

All she could hear were her steps echoing from the walls beside her and her ragged breath.

Her arms were outstretched in front of her and her pace had slowed down considerably now.

Then suddenly she could hear something else than the noises caused by herself.

A single click. She believed to see a little flickering light not too far away on her right side.

"Cara?" she called out.

Another click and the light was gone

"Cara," she called out again and started to walk in the direction she thought she had seen the light.

Click.

There it was again. Right in front of her. She hit something and her hands felt wood and iron. The cell door.

The little window through which she had talked to Cara days before was illuminated by a small, flickering light.

"Cara. Don't do this. Come on give me the lighter. We can talk about this. We'll find a way to sort this out."

Nothing. No answer and no movement.

"Cara?"

Suddenly she appeared in Anna's range of vision. She seemed even paler than before if that was even possible. Her clothes dirty and her hair dishevelled. She held a silver lighter in her hand. A little flame danced above it.

"It's too late Annie." she said in a voice that reminded Anna a lot of Bella back when Edward had abandoned her.

"No it's not Cara. There's still hope. Please, give me the lighter."

Cara shook her head absent minded. "I miss him, you know. I want to be with him again. And I will."

"Cara, don't!"

"I'm sorry I got angry at you Annie." he eyes glistened sadly and for a tiny moment she was her Cara again. The friend she had known before all this had happened.

"Fare well."

And the lighter fell. Almost in slow motion it fell to the ground.

And the bit of straw that covered he stone floor and on which Cara was standing caught fire.

Bright orange and yellow flames flared up and started licking on Cara's legs. Within seconds the girl lit up like a torch.

"NO!" Anna screamed in desperation and horror and started to tear on the cell door in a hopeless attempt to open it.

"No! No! Cara!"

It didn't move an inch.

Tears streamed down her face as she tore on the iron lock bar on the door, bloodying her fingers every time she slipped.

The fire burnt bright inside the cell, illuminating the whole room. Anna could feel the heat on her face and hear the sizzling of the flames.

She had no idea what she would do if she actually managed to open the massive door but she didn't care. All she knew was that she wanted it to open at any cost so she kept going.

Then she felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around her waist and her upper body and dragging her away from the door.

She turned and tossed and screamed. "NO! Let me go! I have to help her! Let me go!"

But Caius didn't let her go. Of course it was him. No one else would come after her and try to hold her back like this.

"Are you out of your mind? I won't let you go in there. You would die." he hissed while holding the struggling Anna in his arms.

"I don't care! Let go!"

"But I do. Don't do this to me, Anna. Please." His voice cracked at the last word. Only a tiny bit but Anna knew him well enough to hear it anyway.

She stopped lashing about but still struggled half-heartedly against his iron embrace. Tears streamed down her face more violently now.

Through the veil of tears she saw figures walking past them, unlocking the door to the cell.

Bright orange light flooded the corridor where her mate was holding her back. His grip tightened a bit as the door was opened, prepared to prevent her from breaking free and running into the cell.

Anna started sobbing. Her body shook uncontrollably and she turned in his arms and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Don't look, love." Caius whispered softly in her ear. He didn't need to tell her that twice. She leaned against his body, her eyes squeezed shut, trying to calm herself down.

There was a sharp hiss as the fire was extinguished and a biting smell filled the dungeons.

But Anna didn't hear or smell it. In fact she didn't hear or smell anything. All she did was seeing Cara's facial expression the moment she had caught fire. An expression of relief and gratefulness.

It was like the picture had burnt itself on the inside of her eyelids. To stay there forever.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Hello my lovely readers**  
 **I finally finished this chapter! I hope you like it.**

 **But before you start reading a little note:**

 **I've been asked to define the vampires in my story a bit more. You know, turning, sparkling in the sun, that kind of stuff.**  
 **Well, in my story I like to think of average vampires as everyone knows them. A bite can turn you. There are no different kind of bites. If they don't kill you, the venom turns you. Fire burns them. But different than in the Twilight books they don't have to be torn apart to be burnt. Fire just kills them.**  
 **What else? They are strong, fast, etc.**  
 **What I don't want to define is whether they sparkle in the sun. That's up to your imagination. Personally I like the classic-dracula-style a bit better where they just burn when they step into sunlight but I deliberately never defined that and I feel like it is too late to put it into the story now. If you like it when they sparkle, imagine a sparkling Volturi coven, if not just make up your own story why they don't and what protects them from the sun. I strongly believe that this is what reading is about. Using your own imagination. It's way more fun ;-)**  
 **I hope this helps everyone who got o bit confused by my kind of vampire and of course if you have any more questions feel free to ask. I appreciate it very much cause to me it means that you took some of your time to read my story and think about it. That's very flattering and means a lot to me.**

 **Love always**

 **prettystories X**

 **Just give me a reason**

Anna starred into space in front of her. She felt empty. Again.

After the incident in the dungeons she had thought she would cry her eyes out until she'd run out of tears. But she hadn't.

Then she had braced herself for the pain which undoubtedly would come. Had to come.

But it hadn't either. Not the day after Cara's suicide nor in the days which followed.

She had found herself to be completely numb and empty. It was like nothing mattered anymore.

What reason was there to go on?

A small part in the back of her head knew that she was being selfish. That she was hurting Caius more than he cared to admit by her behaviour. And that she should fight to go on.

But she didn't have the strength to fight the numbness. Not anymore. This was easier. Much easier.

All she had to do was letting it flow, shutting her body off, not feeling anything at all.

The sound of the door closing caused her to look up.

Caius was standing right in front of her. His ruby eyes showed a sympathy he would never let anyone else see.

Slowly he raised his hand until his fingertips graced her cheek.

Oh how she longed to feel again the burning sensation beneath her skin his touch had once caused her to feel.

But she couldn't. Something inside her forbid it. Feeling it would mean feeling anything else too. All or nothing.

She couldn't do that.

Caius' finger brushed over her face, first only his fingertips, then all of them until his palm cupped her cheek.

Anna took a step towards him and slung her arms around his torso, pulling him close to her. He embraced her back immediately.

They stood there like this for a while, Anna's face burried in his chest, holding on to him, desperately trying to hid how close she was to drift off into the black abyss of her own consciousness.

"Come with me." he murmured against her hair, "Please."

She let the words sink in. It'd been 5 days since she had last left their chambers. Was she ready to face the world again just yet?

The small part of her that still fought against the numbness pushed her forward. _"Go!"_ it seemed to scream at her.

"Okay." she mumbled against the farbric of Caius' shirt. Those were her first words in days and if she had looked up she would have seen a spark of hope lighten up in his eyes.

* * *

The sun shone bright in her eyes as they stepped out of the building. It was a sunny day in late summer and Anna had to squint her eyes against the sudden brightness.

Caius leaded her through the gardens. At first she thought they'd go to their secret spot in the back of the gardens but then she realised he was leading her in the opposite direction.

She had never explored this area of the gardens before therefore she had no idea where they were going.

After a few minutes the reached a doorway which was barred by a wrought-iron door. It creaked loudly when Caius opened it. They stepped through and he closed it again behind them.

Anna looked around. She was standing in an excluded part of the gardens. Seamed by high walls, only accessible through the doorway the had just stepped through.

A path lead from where they were standing into what appeared to be an endless ocean of roses.

It looked breathtakingly beautiful!

Anna took a few steps forward mesmerized by the beauty of this hidden place. She closed her eyes, felt the warmth of the sun on her face and smelt the smell of roses in the air.

If heaven existed, this was it.

"This is Sulpicias rose garden. She hates it when anyone except herself comes here but I thought you would like it."

"It's beautiful." she said soundlessly.

Caius stepped closer to her and took her hands into his own. "You know, there was a time when you said that you would have smiled at me with such happiness it was impossible not to feel it too."

His eyes looked straight into hers and she could see all the pain and sadness she caused him and she felt sorry.

"That was when I first realised I might be falling for you, you know? I saw you smile and the beast inside me fell silent. You gave me hope. Hope that I might could love again."

He let go of her hand and brought them to her face instead. His voice but a whisper.

"You are the one thing in this world I could not live without. Who I truly love. And it pains me to see you like this. I know that you think there is nothing I could do to help you. Perhaps this is true. But if it is, I also know that you are strong enough to fight it."

Suddenly something dwelled up inside her. A wave of emotions. Pain, guilt, sadness, and all the other feelings she had shut down after Cara's death.

The wave grew with every word Caius said, tearing at the numbness inside her, trying to break free.

Scared of what she might feel when she let it happen she tried her best to suppress it.

"How am I supposed to do this Caius? How do you go on when your whole life is shattered into pieces?"

"I don't know, Anna. I honestly have no idea. But you and I we will figure something out, love. Just please try."

Anna's eyes stung with tears she barely managed to contain. The wave inside her had reached a size she'd never imagined was even possible.

"Just give me a reason. Just one. Because every time I try things break apart." Her voice was hoarse and choked from the tears she was holding back.

"Anna, please. I love you. With all my hear. And I need you. You make me a better man. You might don't see it but it is true. Without you I'd be lost, so please, please don't go somewhere I can't follow you. Try. Fight it. Come back to us. To me."

Never before had she seen so much sadness and desperation in his face. If he could have cried, she realised, now he would have.

It tore her heart apart.

And then, finally, it all crashed down on her. All the feelings she had supressed for the past days came crashing down on her and she suddenly felt everything again.

Tears started to flow uncontrollably. Her body shook violently and her knees suddenly gave in and Caius caught her quickly in his arms

Slowly he lowered both their bodies until he was sitting on the stone ground with the crying Anna cradled in his arms.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." she repeated in a whisper over and over again without indicating what she was sorry for. But she held on to him for dear life.

He just held her close and let her cry. "It wasn't your fault, my love. Shhh, it is all right."

And it was. Because he knew he got her back.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.**

 **Good Bye**

"What did you say where we're going?" Anna asked as Kristina drove the black car, she said she had 'borrowed' from Demitri, over a deserted road somewhere in Tuscany.

They had been driving a bit more than an hour now and Kris still hadn't given away a hint where they were heading.

"Out", she simply repeated now as she had already said when she had ushered Anna into the car this morning.

"Yeah, I figured that out on my own, surprisingly enough. But where exactly is 'out'?"

"Oh, you'll see" Kris said in her lovely french drawl and smiled.

"Tell me." Anna whined.

"I figured you needed some time out of that castle and that village, so I'm taking you to the sea."

"Oh" was all that Anna could come up with. She never in a hundred years would have thought of that. But now that Kristina had mentioned it, the sea actually was fairly close to Volterra. Why had she never thought of going there herself?

"That's sweet."

"Yeah that's me. Being sweet and making people happy since 1993. Oh and don't you worry, Demitri knows where we're going... I guess." she added as an afterthought, her brows slightly furrowed.

"What did you tell him?" Anna's voice was wary. She knew Kris long enough to know that she hadn't walked straight up to Demitri and told him every little detail of her plan. Demitri probably didn't even know he knew himself.

"I said that we'd be going out and whether there was a car we could use."

"Ooooh... " Anna groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Maybe I should've asked him when he wasn't reading that report Aro had given him."

"Oh man, Caius will so get his head for this." she cringed at the thought. Poor Demitri. But there was no point in arguing for going back now. Because a), Caius most likely already had noticed that she was gone along with Kristina and Dems was already trying to get out of this mess alive. And b) Kristina was far too stubborn to give up on her, as she obviously thought, brilliant idea of getting her to the sea and therefore wouldn't turn around that car.

"C'mon, chérie, we'll only be gone for a few hours and I'll bring you back in one piece."

" _I_ don't doubt that. Let's just hope your mate will be in one piece as well when we come back."

Kris didn't seem too worried about that. But then she had only known Caius for a few weeks now. This would be a hell of a surprise when they came back.

Anna sat back in her seat, leaned her head against the car window and looked out. The tuscany landscape passed by and made her sleepy.

She still couldn't sleep very well. Only a few hours every night even though Caius did his best to comfort her.

Cara's face seemed to haunt her every time she closed her eyes. Not that she said anything. She just looked at Anna with a mixture of repraoch and sadness.

And every time Anna tried to go to her, tell her that she was sorry for what had happened, tried to explain her everything. But no matter how many steps she took towards her, she could never reach her.

 _"Cara!"_ she would call out _"Cara I'm sorry. Please, I'm so sorry."_

But Cara either couldn't hear her or didn't care because she remained silent and just kept starring at her with that look of betrayal on her face that made Anna's heart shatter pieces everytime anew.

The car jerked to a halt and Anna's head bolted up. Apparently she had dozed off during the drive.

"We're here!" Kristina announced happily and got off the car.

Anna followed her after a minute, furrowing her brows as she looked around. It was pretty windy outside and in a second her hair was everywhere in her face.

"Where's here?"

"At the sea of course." Kris slammed the door of the car shut. "Well almost at least. The beach is over there and the sea is down there."

She pointed ahead of them.

"Hey, where're you going?" she called out as Anna started to walk towards direction she had just pointed out.

"To the beach? That's why we're here, aren't we?" In her mind trips to the sea equalled walks on the beach with her bare feet in the sand. Apparently an image her best friend didn't share.

Kristina walked up to her and grabed her arm, "No, we're not. Come."

Confused Anna stumbled behind her as she dragged her along, one hand tightly wrapped around Anna's upper arm.

In the other hand she carried a bag of some sorts which Anna hadn't noticed before. The devil knew where she had gotten that one from.

Kristina stopped atop of a hill. The wind was a lot stronger up here and Anna had to tie up her hair so it wouldn't fly in her face all the time.

In front of them the seemingly endless sea glistened in the sunlight.

Kristina let go of her arm and turned around, all of a sudden a serious look on her pretty face.

"What are we doing up here?"

Kris pulled a cheramic vase out of the bag she was carrying and held it out towards Anna. It was an urne.

"You get to say good bye."

"What?"

"You never got the chance to say good bye to her. You get it now. Take your time. Tell her whatever you want. And then let her go."

Anna's stomache tightened up.

"Is that..."

"Her ash. I... I saved it befor they could throw it away."

She handed the vase to Anna, whose eyes suddenly stung with tears. Anna wanted to say something. Anything. But there was a big lump in her throat preventing her from forming the words flying through her head.

But she didn't need to say it. Kris knew. She always did.

"Take your time, chérie. I'm over there if you need me." she turned to leave but Anna grabbed her arm.

"No. Stay... please. I can't do this alone. I'm gonna back out if I have to. Please just... stay here, okay?" Anna choked out.

Kristina just nodded and took a step back to give her some space.

The girl turned to face the sea, the vase tightly gripped in her fragile hands. The wind blew sharp in her face and losened the bun at the back of her head, causing her hair to fly free.

Suddenly she felt very light. Almost like flying.

"Cara... I'd never thought I had to do this... I don't know how..." tears started to flow down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and hugged the vase to her chest as if it was a toddler and she needed to protect it.

The air smelled of salt.

"Remember when we were little kids and... and we promised always be there for each other? We promised to take care of each other...And now you're gone. You're gone cause I failed you... I let you down and I'm... I'm so sorry."

Much like her tears the words now just poured out of her, being carried away by the wind.

"I'm sorry I got angry when I knew what you had lost. It's too late now but I wish I would have tried harder to help you. To find you when you disapeared all those years ago. I just wish I could have shown you that you're not alone C. That you never were."

The wind turned and blew from the back now. Her brown hair flew in her face and lose strays stuck to here cheeks where they were wet from her tears.

"I love you Cara. I love you like my sister. And I wish I'd told you that when I still had the chance."

"There' so much going on inside me and I just want to tell you about it cause I know it would make me feel better. But I can't. Not ever, and it hurts so fucking much to know that!"

She opened the lid of the vase.

"I love you C but I have to let you go now. You're home now. I have no idea where that is but I do know it is somewhere and I hope it's beautiful. And I hope you find peace there and that some day we will meet again and you will be able to forgive me."

"Fare well little angel. I'm so glad I got the chance to meet you."

The wind caught hold of the ash and in the blink of an eye it was spread everywhere in the air over the blue sea.

"Fare well." Anna whispered one last time.

* * *

They drove home in silence. Every now and then a single tear would slip Anna's eyes and roll down her cheek.

Her face must have looked horribly tear stained but no matter how awful she looked now, she felt like a ten ton stone had been lifted from her soul. She'd never felt so light.

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?" Caius snapped as soon as Anna opened the door to his studio.

He caught her off guard. After they had come back she had wandered off towards the studio to have some time for herself to sort out her thoughts.

Now it came to her mind that Caius had probably had the same idea after he had discovered her disappearance.

"Do you know just how worried I was when I couldn't find you?" he was quite upset although he did his best not to yell at her. But she was sure that hadn't it been her standing in front of him something would have gone to pieces by now.

Caius flitted over to her. "Do you have any idea..." he paused for a moment, then "What... what happened? You look like a mess."

Anna opened her mouth and shut it again without saying a word.

Mood swing from one extreme to the other within the blink of an eye like only Caius could do it.

A small smile spread over her face and for the first time in weeks it didn't feel forced. It felt good. Real.

She took a step forward and hugged Caius burrying her face in his chest. "I'm fine."

Now it was her turn to catch him by surprise and it took him two seconds to process what just had happened. But in the end he put his arms around her small body and pulled her closer to him.

He pressed his lips gently against her hair. "Really? Because I have heard that before."

"Yeah." she smiled against the fabric of his black shirt. Silence fell over them and she closed her eyes. This felt good. Caius arms safely around her, the smell of his scent mixed with the smell of paint in her nose.

"We burried Cara." she said quietly after a while, "We drove out to the sea and spread her ashes in the wind."

"And you could let her go." his voice equalled hers.

"Yes."

"That's good." he murmured his lips still against her hair.

"I feel better now. Much better."

"I'm sorry that I didn't think of that. I should have been more..."

"It's okay." she cut him off, "It really is. I needed to do this with Kristina, I guess. And now I'm glad it is over."

"You mean back to normal?"

Anna snorted, "As if our relationship's ever been normal."

His body shook as he chuckled at her sarcasm, "Fair enough."

"But basically you're right. Step by step back to normal. It's gonna take a while but it's gonna get better. By the way, speaking of normal and not so normal," she leaned back to see his face, "You didn't tear Demitri's head off, did you?"

"I was close" he growled, "He was lucky it wasn't his head. I think Felix reattached the arm quite properly."

"Uuugh." Anna moaned and leaned her forehead against his shoulder, "Do you know what Kris does to me when you pick her mate apart?"

"I was mad. And I was worried. God knows what could have had happened to you."

"Phhh, all right. But try to stay away from his head, yeah? Headless mates are not good for friendships."

She would have taken any bet that right now somewhere in the caslte Kristina was freaking out about how Caius could something like this and how Demitri could just brush it off as something normal.

She would need to have to talk to her about Caius' bad temper some time soon.

"I will do my best." he grinned a crocked smile and she couldn't help but standing on her toe tips and plant a kiss on his lips.

But before she could pull back Caius cupped her face with one hand and held her in place with gentle force while deepening the kiss.

Her head swirrled but for once in a very long time it wasn't because of pain or sadness.

She moaned softly.

His cold lips moved tenderly against hers. Her fingers wandered up his chest until they met the collar of his shirt. She gripped it tightly and pulled him towards her. She didn't want him to let go. Not ever.

Unfortunately at some point she had to break away to breathe. Caius leaned his forehead against hers, breathing heavily although he actually didn't need air. Old habits die hard.

"I didn't realise how much I'd missed this." she said while gasping for air.

Caius smiled brightly at her then he leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

"Well, if you need some time and space to fully recover we could go back to the island. Just the two of us. What do you think?" he said against her skin while his lips travelled from her mouth to her hear and further down to her neck.

Anna let the words sink in. One or two weeks on the island alone with Caius didn't sound too bad. Some sun and peace would certainly help her to recover too. And there were other things she suddenly felt like doing again...

"Hmmm... sounds to good to be true." she smiled, "Are you serious?"

"We can leave tonight if you want."

"Yes." Anna gasped slightly as he kissed the soft spot at her throat. He knew she loved that.

He liftet his head smiling brightly at her as she slung her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him once again.

"And thank you, Caius." she said quietly after she broke away.

His eyebrows rose, "For what?"

"Just... everything. For being there for me, putting up with me while I was such a mess. For dragging me out of the abyss... I know it wasn't easy. And I know that I hurt you, so thank you."

For a while Caius didn't say anything. Then, "Seeing you like this was... the hardest thing I have ever come past in my 3000 years. It was hell."

His voice had turned shallow and his mind seemed to be far away as he spoke.

"I know I did many horrible things in my existence and I took joy out of them. But I also knew that one day I would have to pay for it. When I saw you in that state I thought that that was my punishment."

"To see the one person I love, that I couldn't live without, slowly breaking apart while I could just stand there and watch."

"But if I had the choice, I would go through all this again." he kissed her tenderly, "Because it was all worth it. Every single bit. I love you Anna. With all my heart."

Anna leaned her head against his chest, "You're making me cry again."

She sniffled then continued, "You know, during all this there was a point when I thought this all would never had happened if I hadn't gone to Italy back then."

"If you hadn't met me."

"Yes."

His body tensed the tiniest bit but Anna noticed nonetheless.

"I wanted to go back so badly. Back to where none of this had happened. And then I realised that it wouldn't matter. Cause if I could go back, and if I could decide again, I really wouldn't change one damn thing."

"This is where I belong. This is what I want. All of it. With all the joy and pain that comes with it."

"This is my life now. It's not always easy but it's what I choose. And if fate or whatever ever tries to drag me down again, hell, I will kick its arse. Cause I'm better than that."

All the tension in Caius body had vanished as she spoke. Instead his body shook again as he chuckled, "That's my girl."

He gazed down at her proudly. "My beautiful, strong girl." he whispered softly.

"I'm glad I met you." Anna continued, "And I wouldn't trade this for the world. I love you too, Caius. I love you."

Once again silence fell over them as he just held her in his arms. But it wasn't awkward. It felt good. Everything had been said and Anna was sure Caius had never been as honest with anyone as he had been in the past minutes.

At this very moment all his guards were down, no mask, no walls, just Caius. As vulnerable as he was.

To be honest she had never felt so vulnerable herself. She had poured her heart out because she trusted him. And he trusted her.

Of course she knew that anyone not knowing him as she did would consider her trust in him as foolish. Caius certainly was no angel. Not at all.

But then again neither was she and this wasn't about angels. He had given her his heart and she kept it save, as he kept hers save. And that was all that counted at the end of the day.

Anna closed her eyes and breathed in Caius scent. His chest vibrated as he purred in content.

She had meant every word she had just said. There was nothing better than this.

Nothing.

 **THE END**

 **Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my story. It means a lot to me!**

 **So this is the end of my little Anna-Caius-Series... for now. Maybe they'll return for another story but not right now.**

 **But I was thinking about posting short scenes out of Anna's and Caius' relationship. Just let me know whether you guys would like that.**

 **(Update 22.1.17: I amended the last chapter slightly cause I wasn't very happy with it and couldn't let it go. But now I am and I can finally focus on my new story The Moment I Knew. I hope you give that one a read too!)**

 **Love you all sweeties XX**


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